ICYMI: Senator Murray Forces Trump Administration to Release Homelessness Funding to Washington State
***PHOTOS AND B-ROLL HERE***
Yakima, WA – On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, visited the Yakima Neighborhood Health Services to learn more about their work providing accessible and integrated health and social services to the community. Yakima Neighborhood Health Services provides health care, education programs, services to end homelessness, and more to the Yakima valley—serving over 23,000 patients with more than 90,000 visits a year.
In April, Senator Murray announced Yakima Neighborhood Health Services’ Continuum of Care (CoC) grant for $171,966 was being renewed after she secured language forcing its renewal in the latest spending bill. The grant was part of a larger tranche of CoC grants whose renewals were threatened this year after the Trump administration took a number of steps to weaken and distort the program and hold up fiscal year 2025 funding. Nationwide, more than 170,000 individuals could have lost housing if the Trump administration’s proposed changes had taken effect. In the fiscal year 2026 funding bill for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Senator Murray secured provisions in law to keep funds flowing to communities, and HUD is now complying with the law and beginning to renew grants like Yakima Neighborhood Health Services’.
“I am glad I was able to meet with the leadership and community today at Yakima Neighborhood Health Services and hear about the important work they are doing to help end homelessness in the Yakima valley. Last year, the President proposed cutting the federal housing budget in half. I said no, and I negotiated to increase funding and protect programs that are critical to addressing our housing affordability and homelessness crisis. We also saw the Trump Administration attack the Continuum of Care program, our biggest federal tool for addressing homelessness. I fought back and secured language protecting that program and our communities,” said Senator Murray. “I’ll keep fighting to address the crisis of homelessness in Washington state and to make sure our youth get the support they need. That’s why I’m working across the aisle to create new grant programs that address the root causes of youth homelessness head on. We know the best way to support our youth is to make sure they never become homeless in the first place.”
“Sen. Murray has been a champion for access to affordable health care, affordable housing, and services for veterans in rural communities like the Yakima Valley. She has supported Community Health Centers, and our model of integrated care providing medical, dental, behavioral health, social services and housing. We are also thrilled to support her efforts to prevent youth homelessness and are honored to have her here today to talk more about how we can support this work,” Rhonda Hauff, CEO, Yakima Neighborhood Health Services.
HUD’s CoC program is the largest federal program for reducing homelessness, and Washington state receives approximately $120 million annually from the program. Late last year, the Trump administration issued a new notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) for fiscal year 2025 funding that sought to upend the program by threatening timely renewal of CoC grants and imposing an arbitrary cap of 30% of funds for permanent housing, effectively slashing funds for this proven tool to address homelessness by more than half. The NOFO was immediately challenged in court by Washington state, alongside other states and nonprofits. In December, a U.S. District Court issued a preliminary injunction blocking HUD from implementing the new NOFO. In April, HUD failed in its attempt to overturn that court order, and the First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Congress’ goal of maintaining funding continuity.
Even before the Trump administration targeted the CoC program with its new NOFO, local governments and non-profits across the country were informed that recipients would have to comply with vaguely worded executive orders that Trump signed in the opening weeks of his second term, specifically related to immigration status, abortion and reproductive care, “gender ideology,” and DEI programs. King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties were among the eight original local government plaintiffs that sued the Trump administration over the potential loss of funding.
President Trump’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 would have slashed funding for HUD by almost 50 percent—a staggering cut that would have decimated housing assistance programs, making millions of Americans vulnerable to homelessness. His budget also proposed consolidating the CoC program with the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program within the formula-based Emergency Solutions Grants program and time-limiting assistance to two years, all while reducing overall funding by $532 million, or 12 percent. In addition, President Trump’s budget also proposed to eliminate major formula programs communities rely upon to develop new affordable housing and for community development activities.
In the face of these drastic cuts, Senator Murray led efforts to safeguard critical federal funding for affordable housing and homelessness safety nets. In the government funding bill Trump signed into law on February 3, 2026, Senator Murray secured a $4.1 billion—or 6 percent—increase in rental assistance programs and a $366 million increase in homeless assistance programs, while rejecting President Trump’s proposals to block-grant, and impose harmful work requirements and time limits on these critical programs that support over 10 million Americans. Notably, Murray secured new guardrails to protect Continuum of Care grants from Trump administration sabotage. The legislation requires HUD to renew Continuum of Care grants expiring during the first quarter of calendar year 2026; all grants expiring in the second quarter of calendar year 2026 if HUD did not make awards by April 1, 2026; and all remaining grants expiring during calendar year 2026 if not awarded by July 1, 2026. In April, HUD announced it would release funds to renew all projects that expired during the first quarter in compliance with the law. Further CoC grant renewals are expected, as HUD has previously acknowledged to the courts that it is now out of time to run a competitive process that meets the deadlines set by this year’s funding bill.
In September, Senator Murray also called for an investigation into HUD’s handling of the grant award process for the Continuum of Care (CoC) Builds program, after HUD notified communities across the country that it was once again scrapping the grant application process it had just run—for the second time—and that it was now forcing organizations to apply for funding for a third time. Earlier this year, a district court ruled that HUD violated the law with the way it handled the CoC Builds awards. And in November, Senator Murray led Democrats in a letter to Secretary Turner calling on him to immediately halt reported plans to make drastic changes to the Continuum of Care program, which could result in nearly 200,000 Americans being forced out of their housing and back into homelessness.
Senator Murray has also led efforts to address and prevent youth homelessness. In March, Senator Murray introduced her bipartisan Preventing Youth Homelessness Demonstration Act, which would authorize $105 million for HHS’s Administration for Children and Families (ACF) aimed at tackling youth homelessness by investing in prevention strategies and community-based solutions. The new legislation will build off HUD’s Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program she helped establish in 2016—and has successfully fought to secure funding for every year since—by addressing the conditions that contribute to youth homelessness and providing effective resources and support for young people and families who need them most. Senator Murray has consistently worked to address Washington state’s homelessness and affordable housing crises and has fought for federal investments to make sure every young person has a roof over their head. In February of this year, Senator Murray secured $5 million for the youth homelessness prevention demonstration program, a $1 million increase—based on her proposal. This program allocates grants to state, local, and Tribal governments and non-profit community-based organizations to provide primary prevention services for youth at risk of homelessness. Murray has funded this program for the last several years without an authorization—by passing her new bipartisan bill, the grant programs would be formally established and help ensure their long-term continuity.
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