SALT LAKE CITY — Around 1,000 formerly unhoused Utahns could lose their housing if federal funding changes are implemented, the state’s homeless service providers are warning.
As part of a shift away from “housing first” policies announced by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) last month, the National Alliance to End Homelessness estimates the state could lose around $10.3 million in funding for permanent supportive housing services.
“It has the potential to be devastating,” said Janice Kimball, the CEO of Housing Connect in Salt Lake County.
HUD noted in a statement that it is increasing funding for homeless services overall, from $3.6 to $3.9 billion.
But the federal government is shifting its priorities for funding toward more temporary “transitional housing over permanent supportive housing,” noted Shawn McMillen, the executive director of First Step House and co-chair of the Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness.
That's "fine for some populations,” he said. But for those struggling with serious mental or physical disabilities, he argues, “it’s not a solution.”
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Permanent supportive housing is specifically designed to help harder-to-serve populations with “a lot of barriers and challenges to being stably housed,” Kimball noted.
To be eligible, someone must have a disabling condition and be considered chronically homeless, meaning they’ve been unhoused for more than a year. Once housed, they pay 30% of their income toward the rent each month.
"If you take the affordable housing and you couple that with supportive services, these individuals are able to stabilize over time,” Kimball said.
The government withdrew its planned funding overhaul earlier this month, amid two federal lawsuits challenging the shifts. So there’s still some uncertainty about how the changes may impact services in Utah and beyond.
But the National Alliance to End Homelessness – which is one of the parties suing over the funding changes – worries the plan would lead to an increase in unsheltered homelessness, if implemented.
“We don’t really know where everybody will go,” noted Ann Oliva, the organization’s CEO, in an interview. “It seems unlikely that they could just be absorbed into the local housing market.”
The alliance estimates about 170,000 people are at risk of losing their housing across the country under the plan.
In Utah, McMillen said the Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness is working collaboratively to identify other housing options and funding streams to keep as many people housed as possible.
"Unless we intervene in some way — either as a state or at the federal level — those people will become unhoused,” he said. “And so that’s 1,000 families statewide that are at imminent risk of losing their housing, which is tragic.”
In a fact sheet, the Salt Lake Valley Coalition to End Homelessness notes that the plan would also impact private landlords with tenants who receive rental assistance through permanent supportive housing grants.
The coalition estimates an impact of approximately $550,000 per month on landlords in the county who rely on payments through these programs.
As homeless advocates voice concerns about the potential changes, a HUD spokesperson defended the new approach in a statement to FOX 13 News. It said the changes would “help homeless Americans on the pathway to self-sufficiency while addressing the decades of relying exclusively on ‘housing first’ policy that warehoused our most vulnerable.”
“Instead of relying solely on permanent supportive housing,” the statement continued, “HUD is taking a comprehensive approach to combating homelessness to achieve lasting results, while increasing funding."
The Utah Department of Workforce Services and Office of Homeless Services said in a statement that it is “aware of ongoing litigation at the federal district court level that is currently impeding direction on these changes.”
Once the litigation is resolved, the agencies said they would “coordinate with local, state and federal partners to help ensure” alignment with federal funding requirements.