The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island building is seen in downtown Providence. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current)
For three days in August, a Rhode Island affordable housing developer had to sit on the good news that it had been awarded a $7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) before U.S. Sen. Jack Reed’s office could issue a news release.
But the federal agency never notified the Women’s Development Corporation (WDC) that it had even won a grant for a project to build 14 units for individuals escaping domestic violence in five new buildings in Providence’s West End. Nor did HUD execute a grant agreement with the Providence-based nonprofit.
Instead, on Sept. 5, HUD issued a new notice of funding to supersede the funding opportunity WDC applied to in May, effectively canceling $75 million in Continuum of Care Build Program grants already announced by Congress. The new funding opportunity, which included significant changes to eligibility criteria, set an application deadline of 3 p.m. on Friday Sept. 12.
A one-week turnaround is unrealistic given the extensive revisions to eligibility requirements that require applicants to support the partisan agenda of the Trump administration, say WDC and the National Alliance to End Homelessness in a lawsuit against HUD and HUD Secretary Scott Turner filed Thursday in U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island.
The two plaintiffs are represented by Democracy Forward, National Homelessness Law Center, Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island, and the ACLU of Rhode Island. They claim that HUD’s new eligibility policy is unconstitutional and unlawful because applicants are prohibited from being so-called “sanctuary jurisdictions” for immigrants, providing “harm reduction” services for drug users and having inclusive policies for transgender people.
The case, National Alliance to End Homelessness v. Turner, et al., asks the court to block HUD’s unlawful funding restrictions and restore fair access to federal housing funds for providers nationwide. The lawsuit claims projects in 36 states plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia are now ineligible for Continuum of Care Build grants under the Trump administration’s criteria.
“The new notice categorically disqualifies from consideration any entity seeking to build housing in a jurisdiction with policies the Administration disfavors,” the lawsuit states. “And, even in jurisdictions with policies the Administration deems acceptable, entities effectively cannot compete for funding unless they profess agreement with the Administration’s view that sex is binary and immutable and foreswear operating safe injection sites or similar programs designed to reduce the harm from drug use—even with wholly non-federal funds.”
The lawsuit lists the following 36 states where housing development projects would be disqualified under the new grant eligibility criteria: Alaska; Arizona; Arkansas; California; Colorado; Connecticut; Delaware; Georgia; Hawaii; Idaho; Illinois; Indiana; Iowa; Kansas; Kentucky; Maine; Massachusetts; Minnesota; Montana; Nebraska; Nevada; v. New Hampshire; New Jersey; New Mexico; New York; North Carolina; North Dakota; Oregon; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; Texas; Utah; Vermont; Washington; West Virginia; and Wisconsin.
WDC Executive Director Frank Shea said that attaching political strings to competitive funding programs prevents the organization from providing critical services to the community. WDC has no control over whether the state or the city of Providence is or is not considered a sanctuary or allows a safe injection site.
“This is almost like redlining where entire communities aren’t eligible to apply for federal grants that are congressionally authorized programs using our tax money,” Shea said. “None of it is related to whether the housing is good or we’re using the resources appropriately. It’s just random things.”
WDC’s 14-unit project was part of a larger development to preserve 47 family units across 19 historic buildings, including some for families experiencing homelessness. WDC was working with the Rhode Island Continuum of Care and Sojourner House on the project.
Chip Unruh, a spokesperson for Reed’s office, said the senator is working with his colleagues in Congress “to reverse HUD’s unjust decision and ensure HUD’s Inspector General thoroughly investigates.”
“WDC applied for this competitive grant, they earned it, and clearly deserve it,” Unruh said in an email. “But instead of awarding the funds as Congress intended, Trump officials at HUD decided to rewrite this program – for the second time this year – and change it from a grant that does the hard work of reducing homelessness to an extremist program that ignores what actually works. HUD’s job is to reduce homelessness and expand housing opportunities, not make it harder to do those things.”
Steven Brown, executive director of the ACLU of Rhode Island, said Thursday afternoon he was still awaiting word on whether a hearing would be scheduled Friday on the plaintiff’s motion for a temporary restraining order.
“The new conditions that have been imposed are completely irrelevant to what the grant is about … and designed to simply promote a partisan and ideological agenda of the Trump administration,” Brown said.
The case has been assigned to District Judge Mary S. McElroy.
A HUD spokesperson had not responded to a request for comment as of 6 p.m. Thursday.
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