Trump promises funding cuts. What could that mean for Pierce County’s homeless services?
Ahead of the second Donald Trump presidency, some homeless advocates are worried that rhetoric promising massive funding cuts to federal agencies and programs could have significant implications on how local governments fight homelessness.
In 2024, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), under the Biden administration, announced it would provide more than $3.5 billion in competitive funding to homeless services organizations across the country for supportive services and housing programs.
Rhetoric and promises made by President-elect Trump and those close to his campaign seem to signal significant cuts to federal agencies and programs to reduce government spending.
With the HUD being a major contributor to local and regional homeless response systems, some are concerned how the next presidential administration could impact homelessness funding.
The Tacoma Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness is a local network of homeless service providers, government partners and advocates who organize on a near daily basis to mitigate homelessness in our region.
Rob Huff, a spokesperson for the coalition, told The News Tribune members of the coalition had been discussing the potential impact of the presidential election on the homelessness response system months before the votes were counted.
“We have talked about concerns about what changes may come in terms of funding levels for affordable housing and homelessness programs on the federal level,” Huff said. “Mostly in terms of the possibility that funding is a looming cloud over what local communities can expect to see funded and supported under the new administration.”
Certified Community Health Specialists (CCHS) is a national network of healthcare clinicians focused on improving access to healthcare for individuals experiencing homelessness. The organization often advocates for health issues faced by those living unhoused.
In November 2024, CCHS published a report warning of a reduction of homeless-service funding under the next administration.
The report draws from promises made by Trump’s platform, Agenda 47, America First Agenda, and other GOP policy platforms such as Project 2025.
The authors of the report raise concerns about the potential abandonment of “housing first” initiatives, work requirements for Medicaid and welfare programs, and more than $3 billion in homeless funding doled out during the Biden administration that might be at risk.
Tom Langdon Hill is medical sociologist with CCHS and worked on the report.
In an interview with The News Tribune, Hill said that historically federal funding for homeless programs and services has continued to increase as a trend, even from one administration to the next.
Hill said he and his colleagues anticipate a “brutal, fast change” to funding under the next administration that most homeless-service and shelter providers are “not going to be ready for.”
He said much of the funding dispersed by agencies under the Biden administration will not need congressional approval to be manipulated and reduced by the next administration, and he suspects those reductions could have significant public-health impacts.
“They are serious about the changes,” Hill told The News Tribune “And those changes could be deadly.”
Hill said their promise to institute work requirements for Medicaid health insurance could put millions of unhoused individuals who are physically unable to work at risk of losing access to healthcare.
He said the “housing first” approach which prioritizes getting individuals housed before addressing their underlying issues like drug addiction and mental health is believed by conservatives to be a “failed approach,” as many have seen the increase in spending on such programs met with an increase in those experiencing homelessness.
“If people are stunned by the number of homeless people on the street now, they are going to be flabbergasted when they get rid of Section 8 housing,” Hill told The News Tribune.
Michael Yoder is the executive director of Associated Ministries, a Tacoma-based nonprofit contracted by Pierce County to conduct services as part of the region’s homelessness-response system. He also serves as a co-chair on Pierce County’s Continuum of Care (CoC), the region’s planning organization which is awarded funding from HUD to coordinate and administer housing and services for people experiencing and at-risk of homelessness.
Yoder told The News Tribune that while there is reason for concern about changing federal funding priorities and threatened cuts, he does not believe there is any “solid information” about what is to come.
“It seems to me that most people are taking a ‘wait and see’ approach before spending time and energy organizing to advocate on federal matters,” Yoder wrote in an email to The News Tribune. “Since there were so many threats during the last Trump administration that never came to fruition.”
According to data from HUD, Pierce County’s CoC was awarded an average of over $3.6 million annually during Trump’s presidency, with a slight increase at the onset of the pandemic. During Biden’s presidency, Pierce County’s CoC was awarded an average of $4.3 million from 2021-2023.
This story was originally published January 6, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
