Gov. Andy Beshear is joining a coalition of states suing the Department of Housing and Urban Development over new policies that cap long-term housing programs.
For decades, HUD has prioritized long-term housing through Continuum of Care grants. Under the latest Notice of Funding Opportunities, local agencies are told such programs can only make up 30% of their grant requests, putting more than $15 million in permanent supportive housing funding across Kentucky at risk. This threatens the housing stability of roughly 1,200 Kentuckians.
“We should be helping people get back on their feet through a safe place to call home, not barring them from any chance of success,” Beshear said. “These policy changes are wrong and dangerous, and they will set our commonwealth and country back.”
HUD defended the reforms, calling the lawsuit meritless and a “delaying tactic.”
Filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island, the lawsuit claims the new application process disrupts Continuum of Care programs, potentially canceling thousands of projects, forcing providers to drastically reshape programs on an impossible timeline, and putting tens of thousands of formerly homeless individuals and families at risk of returning to homelessness.
The coalition is seeking a preliminary injunction, requesting a hearing before Dec. 8, and asks HUD to reinstate the previous year’s funding process.
Beshear is joining the suit as governor, rather than relying on Kentucky’s Republican Attorney General Russell Coleman, who has opposed several Democrat-led lawsuits against the Trump administration.
Local organizations warn the policy changes endanger ongoing programs. The Coalition for the Homeless in Louisville says about 1,000 residents in long-term housing programs could lose support. Amanda Couch, CEO of Welcome House Inc., highlighted that 122 adults and 69 children have benefited from housing programs this year, emphasizing that funding cuts would push households back into homelessness and disrupt programs proven to reduce crisis costs and improve long-term outcomes.
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