Looming federal funding cuts to permanent housing programs could end housing assistance for tens of thousands of people nationwide, including some Nashvillians.
National advocacy organizations including the National Alliance to End Homelessness and CSH (formerly Corporation for Supportive Housing) are urging individuals and local groups to call on representatives in Congress and on the federal administration to continue funding for permanent supportive housing.
The news broke on Sept. 29, when POLITICO, a national news outlet, reported that, “more than half of the 2026 funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s homelessness program designated for permanent housing projects will be cut and moved to transitional housing assistance with some work or service requirements, according to three HUD employees and a person with inside knowledge of the Continuum of Care program as well as internal HUD documents obtained by POLITICO confirming the cuts.”
“The funding cuts could put more than 170,000 people at risk of experiencing homelessness, according to the internal documentation and the people,” the POLITICO article further states.
The cuts refer to the Continuum of Care (CoC) program, a $3.6-billion federal funding source. The CoC program is HUD’s main competitive funding source to address homelessness with about 80-90 percent of the allocations going toward existing permanent housing and supportive services for people with disabilities.
According to POLITICO, the policy change would only allow 30 percent of the available CoC program funds to be used for permanent housing in some capacity. POLITICO also writes that currently about 87 percent of the $3.6 billion support permanent housing programs.
Nashville-area nonprofits and government agencies currently receive $11.38 million in total CoC grants. Of the $11.38 million, about $10.3 million is dedicated to permanent housing. In other words, about 90 percent of our community’s total CoC funding goes toward assisting people experiencing homelessness with housing. This includes programs that offer permanent supportive housing or rapid rehousing or a combination of transitional housing that leads to rapid rehousing. Households who are served in rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing hold their own leases.
The difference between rapid rehousing and permanent supportive housing is that the former offers time-limited assistance until people get back on their feet and can take over the full rent on their lease.
Permanent supportive housing, however, is not time limited. Even with permanent supportive housing, people may exit programs on their own once they are able to increase their income and won’t rely on rental assistance. But there is no time limit, and most people remain reliant on permanent support due to their disabling conditions. Currently, Nashville spends about $5.5 million of its CoC funds on permanent supportive housing programs. That’s just under half of the local CoC funds.
CSH has released comprehensive guidance to local CoC’s to help understand what is going on. In it, they outlined the implications for HUD’s proposed 30-percent funding cap for permanent housing programs as follows (copied and pasted):
HUD’s proposal to limit permanent housing funding to 30 percent of CoC allocations, a sharp drop from the current 87 percent, would destabilize supportive housing across the country.
This change threatens the financial backbone of supportive housing projects, which often rely on CoC-backed rental assistance committed years in advance.
Developers may cancel future projects, and landlords may be less willing to lease units to people with complex needs, shrinking the already limited supply of affordable housing.
In addition to this terrifying news that would undoubtedly increase homelessness nationwide, the Trump Administration proposes to slash the CoC program from the $3.6 billion to around $1.1 billion in the new budget year.
It is unclear what all this means. But one opportunity our local CoC has is to examine how Metro’s increased budget allocation (city dollars that are not controlled by the federal government) is dedicated fully to permanent housing to off-set some of these federal cuts. The Mayor’s Office and Metro Council increased the budget to the Office of Homeless Services (OHS) by about $5 million to roughly $11 million for FY2026, which is the current fiscal year.
That means that with some strategic thinking and alignment with community providers, the city could help lead the charge in minimizing damage. Unfortunately, and unlike other cities and other local CoC’s, OHS has not sent out communication to CoC stakeholders about this federal threat yet (as of this writing and two weeks after the POLITICO article was published). Our local community elected OHS to serve as the CoC Lead agency for Nashville-Davidson County, and I am sure they are monitoring the situation.
If we look for answers to what we can do right now, we must turn to national organizations. CSH (csh.org) has released an Advocacy Activation Guide and sent it directly to local CoC lead agencies, coalitions, and other groups to elevate the issue with their congressional representatives. The National Alliance to End Homelessness is also sharing new information from the federal government level as soon as they get hold of it (endhomelessness.org).
What you can do is call your representative, regardless of party affiliation, and make it clear that while we realize that the proposed changes to the CoC funding are driven by the Administration rather than Congress, they can insist on congressional oversight. Ask them to take action and influence the administration to revise or withdraw their proposals that would result in Nashvillians losing their housing and fewer people experiencing homelessness to access housing in the near future. If we truly want to reduce homelessness in this city and in this nation, action is required now.
Judith Tackett is a longtime homelessness expert and advocate for housing-focused, person-centered solutions. Opinions in this column are her own.