Maryland’s top housing official says thousands of residents will lose their homes due to a new Trump administration policy that slashes federal funding for permanent housing in the next year.
Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development Secretary Jake Day exclusively told WYPR that 3,300 people and 1,100 children will lose housing due to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s revamp of the Continuum of Care program.
“Forty two million dollars in cuts to Maryland’s allocation will reverse our progress to reduce unsheltered homelessness, send families back to dangerous or unstable living conditions and increase burdens on hospital emergency departments, fire, police, EMS, and shelters,” Day told WYPR in a statement. “The lack of alternative housing options like vouchers or affordable housing to meet this massive need means the vast majority of these households will return to homelessness. Homelessness in Maryland is anticipated to immediately increase by 25 percent, with additional impact over time due to loss of overall housing stock.”
The Trump administration announced earlier this week that the Continuum of Care Program will significantly lower its grant allocations for permanent housing from 87% to 30% nationwide. HUD estimated the move could put as many as 170,000 out on the street nationwide, according to internal documents obtained by POLITICO.
“We're going to see increases in emergency department visits, increases in hospitalizations, increases in incarceration, all of these things cost money,” said Kevin Lindamood, president and CEO of Health care for the Homeless, an organization that provides care to people without housing. “This policy really doesn't save resources as much as it shifts resources around.”
That shift will put more of a burden on emergency services, local governments and community organizations, as federal funding for permanent housing takes a steep nosedive.
Day said Maryland has seen significant progress from Housing First policies.
“In Maryland, we’ve utilized Housing First practices that have reduced unsheltered homelessness by 42% and overall homelessness by 28% since 2015,” Day said. “Building on that progress, we also now require that some housing units carry a homelessness preference through our state’s plan for awarding affordable housing tax credits. This helps ensure state funds support housing that directly reduces homelessness.”
Maryland residents will likely see the ripple effects as the state’s emergency rooms, which already have the worst wait times for getting a long-term bed in the nation, are likely to become even more stressed.
A recent five-year study by the Hilltop Institute at UMBC found statistically significant reductions in emergency department visits, hospitalization and hospital readmissions within 30 days when people had supportive housing.
“It’s a decades long, bipartisan consensus, research driven conclusion that people do better when we root care in permanent housing and provide intensive services,” Lindamood said.
The Trump administration says it is moving away from the “Housing First Ideology” to one of self-sufficiency.
“This transformative policy reform will break cycles of addiction, empower self-sufficiency, and drive lasting recovery,” said Department of Health and Human Services Sec. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
The administration is also changing who can apply for the grants, letting faith-based organizations bid for funds.
The White House released the notification for the grant last week, and will be accepting bids until mid-January. Advocates for unsheltered people say the truncated application period keeps organizations from coming up with proposals and submitting them in time.
Both of Maryland’s U.S. senators signed onto a letter expressing concern about the Continuum of Care change.
“HUD should make the responsible choice to renew current CoC grants, proactively work with communities to promote other proven strategies ‘based on research and after notice and public comment’ and work to ensure any policy changes meet all legal requirements to avoid more funding delays,” they wrote in the letter.
The policy change is in line with President Donald Trump’s executive order from earlier this year that allows for clearing of encampments and the forced institutionalization of some people with mental health and addiction issues.
