Montco Housing Programs Can't Avoid Trump Chaos

The federal government’s pausing of food assistance benefits late last year caused national panic – and rightfully so. Much less well-known – but perhaps just as catastrophic – is a change in how federal dollars are awarded to housing providers throughout the United States. It has the potential to exacerbate homelessness and set off a chain of events whereby families and individuals who were making progress end up stumbling backwards on their road to independence. 

In early 2024, I was appointed to the Your Way Home Continuum of Care Board of Directors for Montgomery County. We are tasked with fairly administering housing and homelessness prevention dollars allocated by the federal government (HUD). This experience has afforded me a closer look at how housing programs are actually administered. 

The article below was published by the Philadelphia Inquirer on Dec. 23, 2025. It includes coverage from a press conference that called attention to the looming draconian changes from the Trump administration, as told by advocates like Kristyn DiDominick and Mark Boorse.  (As a loyal paid subscriber, I’m not taking the Inqy's work for free.) 

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Millions of dollars in federal funding for homeless services are at risk after the Trump administration on Friday (Dec. 19) moved forward with a plan to cut support for most long-term housing programs that serve people otherwise without stable shelter, according to officials in Bucks and Montgomery Counties.

The plan, which is still being fought in court after the Department of Housing and Urban Development released an earlier iteration of the policy shift in November, seeks to upend the way communities across the nation, including Philadelphia, treat people experiencing homelessness and would reroute the spending of $3.9 billion in grants for a program called Continuum of Care that localities rely on to fund housing programs.

The latest development came Friday night, when HUD appeared to respond to a judge’s ruling in the legal battle by issuing a new set of rules to apply for the federal awards. The new HUD document reduced the amount of funding available for permanent housing by two-thirds, a drastic decrease, said Kayleigh Silver, administrator of the Montgomery County Office of Housing and Community Development.

The new plan “we believe will worsen homelessness and destabilize communities, not improve them,” said Kristyn DiDominick, executive director of the Bucks-Mont Collaborative, at a news conference Monday in Warminster. The nonprofit fosters resource sharing between the two counties.

Officials said hundreds of people in the counties, including families, veterans, and people with disabilities, could lose access to housing as a result of the funding shift. Nationwide, the HUD plan could displace 170,000 people by cutting two-thirds of the aid designated for permanent housing, advocates say. In Philadelphia, tens of millions of dollars used to fund the city’s 2,330 units of permanent supportive housing are at risk, city officials said in November.

Bucks County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia, a social worker by trade, said HUD broke its “promise” to continue providing support to programs.

“If we can’t trust HUD, how are we supposed to get the people we work with to trust us?” said Ellis-Marseglia, a Democrat.

The HUD announcement followed two lawsuits, including one from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and 20 other states’ attorneys general and governors, against President Donald Trump’s administration over the cuts included in the November draft of the plan.

The earlier plan gave HUD the authority to restrict funding for groups that recognize the existence of transgender and nonbinary people, populations that face greater risks for homelessness. County officials are still seeking clarification on whether that provision remains in the new plan.

HUD temporarily rescinded the controversial plan on Dec. 8, just hours before a hearing on the lawsuits, citing an intent to revise it. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Mary S. McElroy, who presided over the hearing, issued a preliminary injunction blocking HUD’s efforts until a new funding notice is issued. It remained unclear to local advocates and service providers the differences between the new plan posted later that night and the original.

“HUD will continue working to provide homelessness assistance funding to grantees nationwide. The Department remains committed to program reforms intended to assist our nation’s most vulnerable citizens and will continue to do so in accordance with court orders,” a spokesperson for the department said in a statement to The Inquirer.

The confusing standoff marks the latest obstacle that nonprofits have had to endure after a lengthy federal government shutdown and Pennsylvania’s state budget impasse, both of which contributed to funding delays and instability.

It also signifies a turn away from the “Housing First” mindset, which prioritizes giving permanent housing to people who are homeless as a foundation for bettering their quality of life, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. In a post on X on Saturday, HUD Secretary Scott Turner called the strategy “failed.”

Bucks and Montgomery County service providers and advocates at Monday’s news conference handed out literature that said “Chaos isn’t a strategy” and called on Congress to step in, noting that the funding process is months behind.

The impacts “land on real people,” DiDominick said.

Housing is also an important resource for survivors of domestic violence, said Stacy Dougherty, executive director of Laurel House, a domestic violence organization in Montgomery County.

“For victims of domestic violence, access to safe housing can be the difference between staying in an abusive relationship and being able to leave, and sometimes even the difference between life and death,” Dougherty said.

Erin Lukoss, CEO of the Bucks County Opportunity Council, added that “housing is the foundation,” a backbone for the entire system that tries to address poverty and food insecurity. A lack of clarity on this funding is another stressor for service providers and those who benefit from the resources.

“What makes this moment especially concerning is not just the potential reduction in funding, it’s the instability of the rules themselves,” Lukoss.

At a Dec. 4 Montgomery County Commissioners budget hearing, I told the board:

"When practical, I encourage Montgomery County to challenge these orders in court. 

I recognize that funding shortfalls or cuts from the federal government simply cannot be backfilled by the state or county. Elections have real consequences and we are reminded of that every day. 

"As a partner in the non-profit sector and board member on the CoC, please know you have my support to get through this unprecedented challenge. But It will necessitate difficult decisions. 

"If we maintain our focus on helping as many of our neighbors as possible, we may be able to weather this storm."