Court order stops HUD attempt to force local governments to submit to Trump ideology or relinquish millions in funding used to prevent and address homelessness
SAN FRANCISCO (May 8, 2025) — San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu issued the following statement today after U.S. District Court Judge Barbara J. Rothstein granted a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) preventing the Trump Administration from imposing illegal conditions on federal grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). San Francisco and a coalition of seven other local governments filed the lawsuit on May 2 over HUD’s attempt to impose illegal new conditions on the receipt of federal grants to enact President Trump’s policy preferences.
The HUD Continuum of Care (CoC) grant program provides San Francisco over $50 million in annual grant funding to address homelessness. The grant renewals for the CoC program include new unlawful conditions reflecting President Trump’s anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-choice, and anti-equity policy preferences. The TRO issued yesterday prohibits HUD from imposing or enforcing the new grant conditions on Plaintiff jurisdictions.
“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 have nothing to do with the purpose or performance of these grants. This is part of Trump’s strategy to push his ideology by threatening local programs and budgets. We are grateful for this interim relief and will continue to stand up in court for San Francisco’s values, funding, and communities.”
Background
Congress established the Continuum of Care 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 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 would be at risk of losing their housing subsidies and services and could face eviction, 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, and require additional and ongoing support and services to help ensure that they maintain housing stability.
In March 2025, HUD issued CoC grant agreements included new 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, and Fifth Amendment of the Constitution as well as the Administrative Procedure Act. The Court found the public interest is in Plaintiffs’ favor, and Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits and would suffer irreparable harm without a TRO.
The Court’s order states: “Plaintiffs have shown a likelihood that each of the conditions at issue violates the Separation of Powers doctrine by imposing on Plaintiffs certain conditions that were not approved by Congress and are not closely related to the purposes of the grants and the programs they fund, nor do the conditions serve the purpose of making the administration of the grants more efficient and effective.”
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. San Francisco brings the action only as to the unlawful HUD CoC funding conditions.
The Temporary Restraining Order will be in place for 14 days, at which point the Court will consider a Motion for Preliminary Injunction.
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, Case No. 2:25-cv-00814-BJR.
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