Pierce County and other local governments got a legal victory over the Trump administration this week, but the future of millions in grant funding for housing and homeless programs remain unclear.
Lawyers representing Pierce County and other local governments recently were granted a two-week pause on the grant conditions ordered by the Trump administration, but the future of some of Pierce County’s grant-funded programs is cloudy.
On May 2, a coalition of eight local governments, including King County and Pierce County, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington against the Trump administration’s U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration.
Officials from Pierce County’s Human Services Department, which administers federal grant funding for housing and homeless programs, said it objected to the administration’s guidelines related to immigration, “gender ideology,” and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
Pierce County Executive Ryan Mello described the administration’s requirements that grant funding not be used to promote “gender ideology” or DEI or support undocumented immigrants as “coercive” and pushing an “extreme political agenda.”
On May 7, lawyers representing the local governmentsasked a federal judge for a temporary restraining order to pause the new grant requirements.
During the hearing, U.S. District Judge Barbara J. Rothstein acknowledged that the terms tied to grant funding from the previous presidential administration directly conflicted with some of the new requirements recently ordered by the Trump administration.
For example, guidelines for grant contracts which were previously allocated money for this year under the Biden administration specifically required that program recipients address the needs of LGBTQ+ families. Just weeks beforese contracts were about to be signed, new guidelines were ordered by the Trump administration which include requirements to “ensure grant funds do not promote gender ideology.”
“Do you think it is possible for plaintiff to meet both sets of conditions?” Rothstein asked attorneys representing the federal government.
“I think as posed that way, your honor, it would be difficult,” attorney Brian Kipnis answered.
Rothstein made the decision to grant the plaintiffs a two-week pause on the grant conditions, in part to allow certain governments such as King County and San Francisco a chance to meet the deadlines tied to the dispersal of the grant funding.
“If we don’t sign the agreement within 40 days, the government can say, ‘Sorry, that’s the reason you don’t get your grant money,’” argued attorney Paul Lawrence, representing the local governments.
“Defendants have put Plaintiffs in the position of having to choose between accepting conditions that they believe are unconstitutional, and risking the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grant funding, including funding that they have already budgeted and are committed to spending,” Rothstein wrote in her decision.
Pierce County’s homelessness response relies heavily on federal funding from HUD. Last year HUD announced Pierce County would receive more than $4.9 million to renew or continue 10 different housing and homeless programs through 2025.
Pierce County Human Services spokesperson Kari Moore told The News Tribune the grant award ensures housing and support services for “hundreds of very vulnerable people.”
Moore said the next step is filing a preliminary injunction asking the court to enter another temporary pause on the conditions until the judge makes a final decision.
When asked if the legal proceedings would delay housing programs and homeless services, Moore said the county was still in the process of drafting service contracts and would await the final court decision.
“Our primary goal is to have no lapse in services for clients being served, but we’re still working through the details,” Moore told The News Tribune.
As of May 8, Human Services has not received its funding award for programs from HUD.