Partnership for Basic Needs: Housing Assistance is Under Threat
The Partnership for Basic Needs is a coalition fighting to protect the programs Americans depend on to survive, including health care, food assistance, and housing. The stories and statistics in the Housing Assistance is Under Threat zine are drawn from the following sources:
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National Low Income Housing Coalition: Currently, only one in four eligible households receive rental assistance, leaving 75% of qualified families, people with disabilities, older adults, and low-wage workers struggling to afford housing.
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Bipartisan Policy Center: The Trump administration’s full discretionary budget request for fiscal year 2027 includes a 13% reduction in funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) compared to FY2026, which totals $10.7 billion.
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Bipartisan Policy Center: The FY2027 budget prohibits public housing agencies from issuing any new vouchers or assisting new families in FY2027, with limited exceptions for programs like HUD-VASH and the FYI Initiative.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: On average nationally, families that received vouchers had spent close to two and a half years on waitlists first, exposing many to homelessness, overcrowding, eviction, and other hardship while they wait. The longest have average wait times of up to eight years.
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Bipartisan Policy Center: The FY2027 budget limits HUD assistance to 60 months (5 years) cumulatively for non-exempt individuals.
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National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders: Community Development Block Grants: $0 vs. FY26 enacted level of $3.3 billion.
HOME Investment Partnerships: $0 vs. FY26 enacted level of $1.25 billion.
Continuum of Care: replaced by a formula-based $4.024 billion Emergency Solutions Grant program. This would be a net reduction of $393 million from FY26 enacted homeless assistance levels.
Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA): $0 vs. FY26 enacted level of $529 million.
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National Low Income Housing Coalition: Currently, only one in four eligible households receive rental assistance, leaving 75% of qualified families, people with disabilities, older adults, and low-wage workers struggling to afford housing.
National Low Income Housing Coalition 2025 Out of Reach Report: Almost half of all U.S. workers earn less
than the hourly wage required to afford a modest one-bedroom rental home (BLS, 2024).