AS LOCAL ROCHESTER & WNY ORGANIZATIONS FEAR TRUMP CUTS WILL LEAD TO HOMELESSNESS SURGE, SCHUMER – STANDING WITH FAMILIES & HOUSING ADVOCATES – LEADS FIGHT TO STOP TRUMP HUD PLAN THAT COULD EVICT 1500+ FINGER LAKES & WNY KIDS, FAMILIES, VETERANS, AND SENIORS TO THE STREETS IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER
Congress Has Authorized Millions In Community-Based Grants Through Federal “Continuum Of Care” Program That Currently Helps House Thousands Of New Yorkers, But Trump Now Plans to Slash Fed $$ And Add New Restrictions Without Congressional Approval That Could Kick People Out of Their Homes
With Over 1,500 NYers Across WNY And Rochester-Finger Lakes At Risk Of Eviction Starting In January, Schumer Says We Must Protect Vital Funding Source For NY
As Rochester-area and Western New York organizations fear Trump’s cuts will lead to a surge in homelessness, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer stood with families and housing advocates at Independent Living of the Genesee Region to lead the fight to protect over 1,500 Western NY & Rochester-Finger Lakes region families, veterans, and seniors from eviction starting in the middle of winter.
Schumer explained the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Continuum of Care (CoC) program provides funding to non-profits, as well as state and local governments, to provide critical housing support to some of the most vulnerable populations. However, the Trump administration recently started to slash and unilaterally alter the program and restrict who could be helped, threatening to evict more than 170,000 nationwide, including 1,500 Upstate New Yorkers in Genesee County and the surrounding region. Schumer is demanding the Trump Administration immediately reverse these cuts and unnecessary changes that would threaten housing for thousands of Upstate New York mothers, children, veterans, seniors, and domestic abuse survivors experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity.
“Across the Rochester-Finger Lakes region and Western New York, local organizations are worried that new program cuts will lead to a homelessness surge. If Trump goes through with his planned cuts and horribly misguided changes to this vital program, more than 1,500 New Yorkers in Genesee County and the surrounding region could be kicked out of their homes and onto the streets in the middle of winter,” said Senator Schumer. “These are veterans trying to get back on their feet, families with young kids, survivors of domestic abuse, veterans, and people with disabilities. That’s why I’m here with those on the frontlines of combating homelessness in our community to demand the Trump administration immediately reverse these cruel cuts.”
HUD’s CoC Program is designed to promote communitywide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness; provide funding for efforts by nonprofit providers, and state and local governments to quickly rehouse homeless individuals and families while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused to homeless individuals, families, and communities by homelessness; promote access to and effect utilization of assistance programs by homeless individuals and families; and optimize self-sufficiency among individuals and families experiencing homelessness.
Trump’s HUD intends to issue substantial changes to how CoC funding is awarded that would restrict overall program funding, cutting resources and leading to the eviction of an estimated 170,000 Americans from their homes and into the streets across the country starting in January, including Americans with disabilities, veterans, and vulnerable families. These changes include cutting CoC’s program designed for permanent housing projects and allocating that funding to transitional housing assistance programs with work requirements. Proposed changes could have a significant impact on rural areas where there is less funding to fill gaps in housing assistance, spiking homelessness.
Schumer and colleagues, including Senator Gillibrand, have demanded HUD Secretary Scott Turner reverse these devastating cuts, making clear that Congress appropriated $3.3 billion for permanent housing assistance with a bipartisan agreement, and cutting it by 70% and reallocating funding to other programs is reckless and potentially illegal. In their letter, the senators called on Secretary Turner to use the authorities that Congress has given him to renew existing CoC grants for Fiscal Year 2025 to prevent massive disruption and uncertainty for hundreds of thousands of vulnerable Americans in the coming months.
In the Rochester-Finger Lakes region, local organizations like Partners Ending Homelessness, Rochester’s designated CoC program, and Homeless Alliance of WNY, the designated CoC for Genesee, Wyoming, Orleans, Niagara, and Erie counties, may not receive full funding because of these new Trump administration requirements.
Currently, 92% of the annual $14.5 million in HUD funds received in Monroe County, NY by Partners Ending Homelessness pays for long-term rental housing - what HUD calls Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) or Rapid ReHousing (RRH) - that today houses 620 households in Monroe County. Rather than renew these existing grants to maintain these 620 housing units in keeping with the law as Schumer is urging, Trump HUD’s new plan would cap funding for PSH and RRH at only 30% or $4.7 million beginning in May which would eliminate hundreds of long-term housing leases in Monroe County at 18 local providers and force the eviction of 434 people onto the streets next year. Instead of funding all of the current PSH & RRH leases, Trump HUD’s plan would then force communities across the nation to compete with each other for the remaining funding, which HUD now says can only be used for short-term temporary housing units for only those homeless individuals who now meet new eligibility requirements. In addition to the 434 at risk of losing housing, 113 people stand to face evictions starting as soon as January because the annual leases for their housing expire beginning in January. Monroe County’s Partners Ending Homelessness warned that if nearly 550 end up on the street due to these cuts, the county does not have the space or capacity to house them in local shelters.
Likewise, currently 93% of the annual $20.8 million in HUD funds received in Genesee, Orleans, Wyoming, Erie, & Niagara counties by the Homeless Alliance of WNY plays for long-term (PSH and RRH) housing that today houses 1,521 people in Western New York. HUD’s new planned changes will cap this funding to only 30% ($6.7 million) beginning in May, which would eliminate over 1,000 existing housing units provided by 22 local providers, such as Independent Living of the Genesee Region, where Schumer stood today. As a result, over 1000 people will face eviction onto the streets next year. Moreover, 528 people stand to face evictions as soon as January because the annual leases for their housing expire between January and May. This includes housing for domestic violence survivors, families with children, and people living with severe mental illness and chronic health conditions.
Rae Frank, Director at Independent Living of the Genesee Region said, “HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) Rapid Rehousing funding is vital to our work to strengthen communities across Genesee, Wyoming, and Orleans counties by enabling us to move more families and individuals from the streets into safe, stable homes. We provide housing search and rental assistance, along with landlord mediation to people with disabilities experiencing homelessness. Our local partner, the YWCA of Genesee County, provides similar housing assistance to people fleeing domestic violence. We also provide ongoing supportive services including employment assistance, financial literacy, application assistance, and peer advocacy services that have enabled many of our tenants to stabilize and achieve self-sufficiency. These HUD funds were meant to be renewable each year, but the new HUD plan to cut this Rapid Rehousing funding in our region by 70% is jeopardizing our ability to keep a roof over our tenants’ heads. We appreciate Senator Schumer’s push to forgo these planned cuts and instead maintain the promise of this funding through next year so that we are not forced with evicting tenants back to the streets.”
Kexin Ma, Executive Director, Homeless Alliance of WNY said, “Today, 93% of our federal funding supports 29 permanent supportive housing and rapid rehousing programs that keep more than 1,500 of our neighbors safely housed. Under the new rules, only 30% of that funding would be guaranteed — putting over 1,000 people and 22 proven programs at immediate risk of losing their homes. This shift is not just a budget cut; it is a rapid structural overhaul that communities are being asked to absorb with virtually no transition time. Many people currently stably housed in PSH or RRH would no longer qualify for Transitional Housing, which means programs may be forced to end leases early and push people back into homelessness. Our shelters are already overwhelmed, and this would deepen that crisis overnight. Landlords, too, are left without guidance and that uncertainty jeopardizes thousands of property owners and destabilizes the local housing market. We appreciate Senator Schumer’s push to reverse this HUD plan because cutting proven permanent housing programs — or destabilizing the people already in them — will only increase homelessness, strain emergency services, and put vulnerable families, survivors of domestic violence, and people with serious health conditions at greater risk.”
Tree Clemonds, Executive Director of Partners Ending Homelessness said, “The new changes to HUD funding are not just a policy shift—they are a threat to the most vulnerable people in our community. In Monroe County alone, over 440 individuals could lose their homes, and nationally, an estimated 170,000 people are at risk. By redirecting resources away from permanent supportive housing, we are setting up a system that’s ill-equipped to meet the needs of those struggling with chronic homelessness and disabilities. The proposed rules would force a cruel paradox: people in PSH or RRH would be deemed ineligible for transitional housing, and the only way programs could convert would be by evicting the very tenants they’re trying to keep housed. That’s an impossible choice no provider should ever have to make — and it would push vulnerable people back into homelessness.”
A coalition of 19 attorneys general, including New York’s Letitia James, and two governors have sued the Trump administration over these policy changes. In addition, more than 20 House Republicans and the National Association of Counties, National League of Cities, and U.S. Conference of Mayors, all made up of memberships of bipartisan local leaders, have urged Secretary Turner to preserve this vital lifeline for thousands of American families and extend existing CoC grants through the next fiscal year as originally intended by Congress. Schumer said he will continue fighting until this funding is safe.
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