Unlawful grant conditions threaten local governments to submit to Trump ideology or relinquish millions in funding used to prevent and address homelessness
SAN FRANCISCO (May 2, 2025) — San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced today that the City and County of San Francisco and a coalition of seven other local governments filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for imposing illegal new conditions on the receipt of federal grants to enact President Trump’s policy preferences. The HUD Continuum of Care grant program provides San Francisco over $50 million in annual grant funding to address homelessness. The grant renewals for the Continuum of Care program include unlawful conditions reflecting President Trump’s anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-choice, and anti-equity policy preferences.
“HUD’s Continuum of Care grant program provides tens of millions in funding for housing and related services for thousands of our most vulnerable,” said City Attorney David Chiu. “These new grant conditions blatantly violate the Constitution and endanger people’s lives. This is part of Trump’s strategy to push his ideology by threatening local programs and budgets. We will continue to oppose these efforts and stand up in court for San Francisco’s values, funding, and communities.”
Background
Congress established the Continuum of Care (CoC) program through the Homeless Assistance Act, which directs the Secretary of HUD to award CoC grants. The CoC program is designed to support local governments and nonprofit providers to provide housing and related services to individuals and families experiencing homelessness, at imminent risk of homelessness, or fleeing domestic violence.
Under the CoC program, the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) submits an annual application for all CoC projects in San Francisco. The City is the direct recipient for a majority of the projects funded through this program, and HSH contracts with subrecipient nonprofit agencies.
The CoC funding supports projects in San Francisco that provide permanent supportive housing, rapid re-housing, and transitional housing with the goal of ending homelessness. Grant funds also support HSH’s efforts to provide rental assistance and services to families and youth, and administer HUD’s required coordinated entry process, which connects vulnerable residents to housing and other resources.
San Francisco currently relies on over $50 million dollars each year in HUD CoC grant funds to serve its homeless residents, who numbered 8,323 during the most recent count. Without this funding, more than 1,400 households will lose their housing subsidies and services and will be at risk of imminent evictions, at a time when HSH is facing tremendous budgetary pressure. The individuals served by these grants are some of the most vulnerable residents of San Francisco, many of whom struggle with disabilities, mental health and substance abuse issues, family trauma, and other challenges, and require additional and ongoing support and services in order to help ensure that they maintain housing stability.
The CoC grant agreements now include conditions that are not authorized by Congress, but instead unlawfully impose the federal administration’s anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-choice, and anti-equity policy priorities.
The lawsuit alleges the new CoC grant conditions violate the Spending Clause, Separation of Powers, Tenth Amendment, and Fifth Amendment of the Constitution as well as the Administrative Procedure Act. Plaintiffs are seeking an injunction to prevent the new conditions from being enforced, as well as a declaration from the Court stating that the new grant conditions are unconstitutional and unlawful. San Francisco brings the action only as to the unlawful HUD CoC funding conditions.
In addition to the City and County of San Francisco and Martin Luther King, Jr. County, Washington, the coalition of plaintiffs in the lawsuit includes County of Santa Clara, California; City of Boston, Massachusetts; City of New York, New York; City of Columbus, Ohio; Pierce County, Washington; and Snohomish County, Washington.
The case is Martin Luther King, Jr. County, et al., v. Scott Turner, et al., U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The complaint can be found here.
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