Over 1,000 stakeholders sign letter to top lawmakers opposing HUD’s CoC changes
For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Jesse Dean, Director, Strategic Communication, [email protected] | 347-931-0132
New York, NY | December 2, 2025 – More than a thousand national, regional, and local organizations including heath care providers, disability organizations, businesses, local governments, housing developers, investors, and advocates for housing and homelessness signed a letter to top lawmakers in the House and Senate asking the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to renew all Continuation of Care (CoC) grants for the full year 2026.
The letter was an urgent response to HUD’s recent announcement that it planned to divert essential resources away from supportive housing, an evidence based and cost-effective model for people experiencing homelessness while managing substance abuse disorder, mental illness and other disabilities. The changes, outlined in last month’s Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), put more than 170,000 households at risk of losing stable housing and threaten billions in public and private investment.
The diverse groups that signed the letter are urging lawmakers to include language in the fiscal year 2026 HUD appropriations bill to renew all existing Continuum of Care contracts for twelve months. The approach builds on the two-year CoC renewal option authorized in FY24, changing the language to a directive rather than it being optional. The recommendation, which would have no cost to taxpayers, would preserve housing stability, protect billions in public and private investment, and allow time for a thoughtful policy review.
The letter points out that the current program is the cornerstone of successful homelessness policy. Without such stable housing, the letter states, communities will “spend upwards of $15,000 per person annually on crisis services. Incarceration costs approximately $131 per day and hospitalization $1,200 per day. In contrast, housing paired with services costs approximately $72 per day and provides a stable foundation for recovery, employment, and long-term stability.”
The letter was sent to the top Republicans and Democrats of both chambers of Congress.
###
