The nation’s housing regulator is temporarily barred from imposing the Trump administration’s agenda on grants for several localities to combat homelessness, a judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Rothstein on Wednesday issued a 14-day temporary restraining order on the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Transportation, and the Federal Transit Administration. The departments sought to impose grant conditions based on President Trump’s executive orders regarding diversity, equity and inclusion; immigration enforcement; gender identity and abortion.
Eight cities and counties said in a lawsuit filed last week that $280 million in HUD grants were at stake. The local governments use the funds provided by HUD’s Continuum of Care program to serve homeless residents via shelters, rental assistance, child care and other services. The complaint in a Washington federal court also cited $446 million in appropriated FTA grants at risk for the county which encompasses Seattle.
HUD Secretary Scott Turner, who has championed combating homelessness, previously said HUD’s COC program was used by “the left to push a woke agenda.”
“COC funds will now be used for their intended purpose — they will not promote DEI, enforce ‘gender ideology,’ support abortion, subsidize illegal immigration, and discriminate against faith-based groups,” wrote Turner in a post to X (formerly Twitter) in March.
Local prosecutors from Washington state and Bay Area counties, Boston, Columbus and New York City sued HUD over new grant terms, claiming among other violations breaches of the Fifth and Tenth Amendments. Some of those prosecutors on Thursday lauded Judge Rothstein’s decision.
“These new grant conditions blatantly violate the Constitution and have nothing to do with the purpose or performance of these grants,” said David Chiu, San Francisco city attorney, in a press release. “This is part of Trump’s strategy to push his ideology by threatening local programs and budgets.”
Spokespeople for HUD didn’t return a request for comment Thursday.
The executive orders tied to the homelessness grant proposals call on feds to end support for DEI efforts; for “taxpayer subsidization of open borders” and sanctuary cities; for “gender ideology extremism”; and for efforts promoting access to lawful abortions. Violators could also be subject to the False Claims Act, which is punishable with civil fines in the tens of thousands of dollars, according to the lawsuit.
Local prosecutors argue HUD and other agencies aren’t allowed to condition already-awarded, and soon-to-be awarded funds on unlawful and unconstitutional terms. Counties and cities also argue the stipulations are vague, and that it’s unclear what would constitute a violation of the EOs.
In opposing the TRO, attorneys for HUD, DOT and the FTA rejected the claims and said the case should be litigated rather in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Rothstein, who was appointed to the federal bench by former president Jimmy Carter, said plaintiffs showed a likelihood of success on the merits of their claims.
“The conditions that defendants added … likely exceed defendants’ authority, as circumscribed by the Constitution,” wrote Rothstein.
HUD is realigning under the Trump administration, already shedding over $100 million worth of vendor contracts. The White House is also asking for a $33.6 billion budget cut for the department in the upcoming fiscal year. The nation’s housing regulator has received some backlash over its moves, recently for its planned rescission of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing policy.
