Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development Secretary Jake Day said this week that homelessness in the state will increase by 25% as a result of recent Trump administration actions.
“The Trump Administration’s decision will directly result in a 25 percent spike in homelessness across Maryland. It will reverse decades of progress to reduce unsheltered homelessness,” Day said.
The statement comes as the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development plans to reprioritize funding for permanent housing for homeless people toward transitional housing and substance abuse treatment. Local continuums of care, which coordinate housing and homeless services funding, will now face a different grant application process.
In a statement last Thursday, the department announced $3.9 billion in “competitive grant funding” through HUD’s fiscal year 2025 Continuum of Care.
Applications for the grants close on Jan. 14, 2026, with award funding beginning in May. No more than 30% of a Continuum of Care’s application can go toward permanent housing now, according to the notice of funding opportunity documents from HUD.
The plan veers away from a “Housing First” approach to addressing homelessness, which HUD’s statement says doesn’t address addiction and mental illness.
“$46 million in cuts to Maryland’s funding allocation will result in more than 2,400 Maryland households – including 4,300 people and 1,900 children – losing their homes,” Day said, adding that those people will likely end up homeless again due to a new lack of vouchers, affordable housing or alternatives.
Calling the continuum of care program a “Biden-era slush fund,” federal housing secretary Scott Turner said the funds will be used for transitional housing and treatment services on Fox Business’ “Mornings with Maria” program on Wednesday. Turner said the plan would address the root causes of homelessness, which he said are drug addiction and mental illness.
“Utilizing Housing First practices, we have cut unsheltered homelessness by 42% and overall homelessness by 28% since 2015 … permanent supportive housing is the evidence-based practice that most effectively and most affordably solves homelessness,” Day said.
Over 30,000 Marylanders experience homelessness each year, according to Health Care for the Homeless.
“Homelessness is not primarily caused by personal factors like addiction or mental illness,” according to The National Alliance to End Homelessness, which says homelessness is driven by a lack of affordable housing, inadequate access to health care and systemic racism.
“This plan is reckless and cruel. Homeless service providers throughout the country will begin to run out of money next month,” House Democrats said in a Monday statement to Turner.
“The administration should be focused on addressing their cost-of-living crisis that has made housing so unaffordable, not targeting vulnerable people and making the homelessness crisis worse,” Reps. Rosa DeLaura, of Connecticut, and James Clyburn, of South Carolina, said.
“We refuse to allow these destructive federal decisions to drag Maryland backwards,” Day said.
“Maryland remains steadfast in its evidence-based approach to solving homelessness and will not sacrifice stability and success for failed strategies that will cost more, achieve less and set our communities back.”
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