Aging and Disability Advocates Must Act Now to Save Permanent Supportive Housing for Older Adults

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is moving to gut funding for permanent supportive housing (PSH), putting more than 170,000 people – most of whom are older adults and people with disabilities – at risk of losing their homes. For this population, losing a home often means trying to survive on the streets or being institutionalized.

For many older adults who are unhoused, access to permanent supportive housing (PSH) provides a roof over their heads and services to stabilize their health and lives. Older adults are the fastest-growing group among people experiencing homelessness and an increasingly larger share of people in PSH. In 2022, seniors age 55 and over comprised 40% of PSH residents.

PSH primarily serves people with disabilities who were chronically homeless and have the most complex needs. As a proven solution for homelessness, it has enjoyed bipartisan support for decades.

But now, HUD is trying to slash funding for PSH and other permanent housing in its Continuum of Care (CoC) homeless assistance program. CoC funding provides around $3.7 billion annually for communities’ homeless response systems nationwide.

Currently, around 87% of CoC funding supports permanent housing. Starting next year, however, HUD wants to cut that number to 30% to shift more funds to temporary and less effective forms of assistance, such as transitional housing.

Tell Congress to fund permanent supportive housing

Risks of Institutionalization

The Trump Administration has also embraced a punitive approach to homelessness and is pushing states to do the same. HUD plans to prioritize awarding CoC funds to jurisdictions that criminalize homelessness and use measures such as involuntary commitment against people who are unhoused.

States may increasingly heed the Administration’s calls to lock up people experiencing homelessness. If they do, more unhoused older adults will wind up trapped in institutions like jails, psychiatric facilities, or nursing homes.

Cuts to Safety Net Will Fuel Homelessness Crisis

HUD’s new CoC Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), which includes these and other damaging changes to the CoC program, is part of a broader shredding of the safety net that will increase poverty and homelessness for seniors.

The CoC NOFO comes on the heels of the largest cuts in history to Medicaid and SNAP food assistance. Older adults already have the highest poverty rate among all age groups, but as more older adults lose their support for health care and food, more will struggle to pay for their basic needs – including housing.

In addition, current budget proposals in Congress for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 fail to provide sufficient funding for federal rental assistance. For example, almost 60,000 households are on the brink of losing their Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHVs) because Congress may not renew funding for the program.

EHVs were created specifically to support people at risk of or experiencing homelessness. Many EHV recipients are older adults and people with disabilities, who use these vouchers to bridge the gap between their incomes and rents. If all EHV households lose their vouchers and housing next year, homelessness is expected to increase in some states by up to 15-20%.

Congress, though, can act now to prevent a further rise in homelessness by halting HUD’s CoC NOFO and fully funding housing and homeless assistance.

What You Can Do

Congress has until January 30 to pass new spending bills for FY26. In the meantime, it is critical to contact lawmakers as soon as possible about how the new CoC NOFO will take away housing from older adults.

Lawmakers must understand that older adults in their communities rely on HUD’s CoC and other programs to avoid homelessness.

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