Continuing Resolution Keeps Most Funding Level Through September 2025

Following dramatic budget negotiations, Congress passed and President Trump signed a continuing resolution (CR) that averted a potential government shutdown and keeps the government open through September 2025, which is the end of FY 25. While the CR largely extends existing funding levels, it does cut $13B in domestic funding and proposes $4.6B in additional funding for key HUD programs. The CR also does not address the looming debt ceiling, which the US is likely to hit in the summer of 2025.

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs impacted by the CR include:

Funding Increases

• $32.14B to renew contracts under HUD’s Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA, commonly known as Section 8) program, a $3.65B (12.8%) increase from the previous fiscal year. This increase is not sufficient to cover the cost of renewing all vouchers and will likely result in vouchers not being re-issued after tenants’ leases expire.
• $16.89B for HUD’s Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) program, an $880M (5.5%) increase from FY 24.
• $931.4M from Section 202, an $18.4M (2%) increase from the last fiscal year. Section 202 supports housing and services for older adults.
• $256.7M for Section 881, a $48.7M (23.4%) increase from the previous fiscal year. Section 811 provides housing and services for people with disabilities to live in communities rather than institutionalized settings.

Funding Challenges

• The CR gives HUD Secretary Turner the authority to repurpose Continuum of Care (CoC) Builds program funds to fund CoC renewals instead of adding to HUD’s Homeless Assistance Grants program. A Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the CoC Builds program was released last year; however, funds were not awarded. This is likely to result in a $168M shortfall in HUD’s homeless assistance programs.
• $3.43B for HUD’s Community Development Fund, a $3.29B (-51%) cut from the previous fiscal year. Most of this funding is the result of lost earmarks or congressionally requested funding for community development projects.
• No additional spending for disaster recovery.

The CR provides level funding for other HUD programs, including the public housing capital account ($3.4B), HOME ($1.25B), HOPWA ($505M), Choice Neighborhoods ($75M), the Native American Housing Block Grant program ($1.1B), and a competitive tribal housing program ($150M). The bill preserves the $100M set-aside within the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program for the Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) program and $20M provided to HUD’s Eviction Prevention Grant program (EPGP), which provides communities with funding for legal aid programs to prevent evictions.

Now that the CR has been signed, Congress has begun negotiations on the debt limit and FY26 budget, which takes effect on October 1, 2025.