A homeless encampment outside the West L.A. Veterans Affairs facilities in 2021. (Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times via TNS)

WASHINGTON — Tougher requirements that President Donald Trump’s administration is planning for housing subsidies prompted sharp criticism from Democratic lawmakers about the potential impact on aging and disabled veterans who rely on the federal assistance to stay off the streets.

The federal grants, totaling $3.9 billion, are the primary source of federal assistance to address homelessness. The dollars flow to nonprofit agencies and to local and state governments.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development published a Notice of Funding Opportunity last week that outlined plans to tighten rules for awarding “continuum of care” grants for homelessness assistance. The agency followed up with an announcement from HUD Secretary Scott Turner on its website.

The new HUD plan would steer federal dollars away from permanent housing for the homeless to temporary or “transitional” programs that have eligibility rules for work, drug treatment and mental health care. While supporting long-term housing had represented 90% of HUD spending, that will drop to 30% under the proposal, the National Alliance to End Homelessness said in a funding overview.

Funds, for example, will support housing projects with onsite substance abuse treatment, mandated participation and “24/7 detox or inpatient access,” the National Alliance to End Homelessness said.

Turner described the proposal as “representing the most significant reforms and changes in the program’s history.”

He blamed the current practice of emphasizing long-term housing subsidies as “perpetuating homelessness through a self-sustaining slush fund.” Known as “Housing First,” the approach focuses on sheltering people and keeping them housed.

Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., left, and Rep. Mike Bost, R-Ill., during a hearing Feb. 26, 2025. Takano, the top Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, blasted changes proposed to homelessness assistance programs for seniors, disabled veterans and other populations. Bost has pledged to review the proposal and potential impact on veterans. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)

But Rep. Mark Takano of California, the top Democrat on the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, slammed the plan, saying it would jeopardize successful homelessness-prevention programs.

Cuts to HUD’s “continuum of care funding, coupled with the Trump Administration’s focus on criminalizing homelessness, will undo the progress we are seeing in communities across the country in ending veteran homelessness,” Takano said.

Other Democratic lawmakers echoed those concerns. Though HUD has the ability to manage how awards are administered, the major changes to assistance outlined in the proposal are unprecedented, critics said.

“HUD must immediately reconsider these harmful and potentially illegal changes that could result in nearly 200,000 older adults, chronically homeless Americans with disabilities, veterans and families being forced back onto the streets,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., in a letter to Turner signed by 42 Democratic senators.

The letter from Murray questioned the authority of HUD to make sweeping changes to how assistance is awarded in the nation’s largest grant program to combat homelessness.

“Reports of HUD intentionally blocking staff from examining the legality of the fiscal year 2025 changes [in the Notice of Funding Opportunity] with its own attorneys are deeply troubling,” the letter said. “We are also concerned by HUD’s lack of communication with grantees, especially as any new [funding opportunity] at this point in the year would not provide grantees with adequate time or opportunity to plan for sweeping changes before some projects begin to run out of continuum of care funds in January 2026.”

The HUD proposal requires homelessness assistance programs to show they operate in communities that ban encampments, cooperate with police enforcement, and support involuntary commitments of individuals who resist drug and mental health treatment.

The policies align with an executive order that Trump signed in July titled “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets.”

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, described the HUD proposals as a “bold new approach” for addressing homelessness.

“This transformative policy reform will break cycles of addiction, empower self-sufficiency and drive lasting recovery,” Kennedy said.

The House Veterans’ Affairs committee “plans to review the proposals at HUD and how, if any, they would impact veterans and VA to ensure that veterans are effectively lifted out of homelessness,” said Kathleen McCarthy, spokeswoman for Rep. Mike Bost, R.-Ill., the committee chairman.

Former service members have a disproportionately higher rate of homelessness than the general population, though veteran homelessness has dropped during the last decade.

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced this week that it “permanently housed” 51,936 homeless veterans in fiscal year 2025, which is 4,000 more veterans than the prior year.

But Takano questioned why the Trump administration seeks to change policies for homelessness assistance that are yielding positive outcomes.

“I encourage VA Secretary [Doug] Collins, HUD Secretary [Scott] Turner and the Trump administration to stick with what is clearly working so that every veteran has a place to call home,” Takano said.

Turner argued the changes are long overdue. He said the goal is to encourage self-sufficiency among recipients and emphasize public safety to “make our cities and towns beautiful and safe.”

The National Low Income Housing Coalition urged HUD to maintain current funding levels for existing tenant-based voucher contracts to ensure that the “people and families who rely on [them] keep a roof over their heads.”