Attorney General Mayes Wins Case Protecting Federal Support For Homelessness Services

PHOENIX – Attorney General Kris Mayes and a multistate coalition have won their case challenging Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) illegal attempt to cap funding for permanent housing projects that help families facing housing insecurity or experiencing homelessness. If the coalition had not successfully challenged HUD’s policy, nearly 1800 Arizonans could have lost their homes.

“HUD tried to rewrite the rules governing these critical funds, with no legal authority to do so,” said Attorney General Mayes. “Their unlawful efforts could have pushed hundreds of Arizonans out of their homes and onto the streets, worsening the homelessness crisis. My office is proud to have stood up for the rule of law and prevented a disaster for these families.”

For more than two decades, HUD has embraced a commitment to permanent housing programs and the Housing First model, which prioritizes rapid placement in permanent housing without requiring people to first meet conditions such as sobriety or a minimum income threshold. But the current federal administration has rejected that commitment and undermined the Continuum of Care (CoC) program.
 
In June, the states won a separate case against HUD in federal court in Rhode Island regarding the agency’s decision last year to impose illegal conditions on billions of dollars in funding for the CoC program, including an attempt to impose a cap on the amount of CoC funds that can support permanent supportive housing. 
 
After that cap was struck down as unlawful, HUD changed its tactics. They issued a notice of funding opportunity that would have created a $1.3 billion set-aside for new projects prioritizing such things as transitional housing, which would have resulted in a de facto cap on permanent housing. That shift threatened housing for at least 97,000 residents of CoC-funded permanent housing across the country, and nearly 1800 in Arizona, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
 
AG Mayes again joined a coalition of states in suing to block these harmful changes. Today, the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island granted critical parts of the coalition’s motion for summary judgment, ruling that HUD’s set-aside was unlawful and cannot be implemented.
 
The lawsuit was led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha, and Washington Attorney General Nick Brown. AG Mayes joined the suit with the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin, and the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.