Rhode Island Federal Judge Mary S. McElroy has today granted motions for preliminary injunction, which will temporarily block the Trump-Vance administration’s attempts to implement unlawful and unreasonable restrictions that seek to shift funding away from proven solutions to homelessness. The order comes in National Alliance to End Homelessness et al. v. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), a case brought by local governments and nonprofit organizations, including Crossroads Rhode Island and Youth Pride, which seeks to prevent the administration’s harmful attempt to stop funding permanent housing projects that are keeping hundreds of thousands of people out of homelessness as cold winter months arrive.
For years and through multiple administrations, HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) Program has helped provide the necessary resources for local governments and organizations to fund permanent housing projects for veterans, seniors, people with disabilities, and individuals and families with children experiencing homelessness. On November 13, 2025, however, without explanation, HUD rescinded a necessary program notice, replacing it with one that threatens existing services.
This new November 13 notice was withdrawn by HUD on December 1, hours before a hearing in the case brought by local governments and nonprofit organizations. Judge McElroy’s order from the bench today, which will be followed by a written order, blocks the implementation of dangerous changes to the CoC program — even as the government has threatened to issue another new funding announcement.
After more than a decade of prioritizing evidence-based approaches that reduce homelessness, as the complaint explains, any changes to the Notice of Funding Opportunity threaten to upend the stability of the program required by law, will have devastating impacts for plaintiffs, and cause hundreds of thousands of children, youth, adults, and families to become homeless.
The coalition released the following statement in response to the order:
“This order offers local governments and nonprofit organizations doing the hard and important work of supporting people experiencing homelessness some much-needed relief after the threat of harmful new conditions imposed by the Trump-Vance administration. Today’s order means that more than 170,000 people – families, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities – have respite from the government’s assault. The Trump-Vance administration has suggested it would double-down on its unlawful and unreasonable effort to kick people out of housing and back into homelessness with a new policy shift. We will continue to pursue this case and remain dedicated to protecting proven solutions to homelessness and the hundreds of thousands of people who rely on this housing support.”
Besides Crossroads Rhode Island and Youth Pride, Inc., the coalition behind the lawsuit includes the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) and the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), as well as the County of Santa Clara, Calif., San Francisco, Calif., King County, Wash., Boston, Mass., Cambridge, Mass., Nashville, Tenn., and Tucson, Ariz.
Democracy Forward and the ACLU Foundation of Rhode Island represent the coalition of nonprofit organizations in the matter; the National Homelessness Law Center represents NAEH and NLIHC; Public Rights Project represents the cities of Boston, Cambridge, Nashville and Tucson; and Santa Clara County and San Francisco represent themselves. The Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island represents all plaintiffs.
Plaintiff and co-counsel quotes regarding the original filing are available here.
Read the full complaint here.