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The Trump administration has attempted to cut off funding for a program that provides housing to homeless Americans. Last week, a federal judge extended a ruling barring that action. It's part of a broader effort to slash federal support to Democratically led cities with policies the administration disagrees with. Marisa Lagos from member station KQED in San Francisco reports on how vulnerable Americans are caught in the middle.
MARISA LAGOS, BYLINE: R.J. Sloan says he was living the American dream. He worked for a giant pharmaceutical company and owned two homes. Then came a health crisis.
R J SLOAN: I had a psychotic break from reality. I left my apartment, lost everything, including my two dogs, and I started running around San Francisco, living in Golden Gate Park, eating out of trash cans.
LAGOS: Sloan, who's now 60, spent several years on the streets before landing a spot at Bishop Swing Community House, a supportive housing development in San Francisco's South of Market district. It's one of 23 sites operated by the nonprofit Episcopal Community Services, housing more than 2,000 people in the Bay Area. When he first moved in, Sloan says, just surviving was a struggle.
SLOAN: My first five years here, I wore the same clothes every single day. I never changed my clothes. I rarely showered or brushed my teeth. I was in such a bottomed-out phase of life.
LAGOS: Sloan eventually started getting better. He says it wasn't just because he had a safe place to live. It was also the support - mental health services, medical care and, importantly, case managers who encouraged him to continue moving forward when he was ready.
SLOAN: You're encouraged to make your appointments. You're encouraged to keep up with the goals that you set. So I began working part-time as a front desk clerk.
LAGOS: That work at a nearby homeless shelter now helps pay for Sloan's apartment, but the bulk of the rent is paid for by the federal government through a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program known as Continuum of Care. It's money that local governments and their nonprofit partners, like Episcopal Community Services, rely on to tackle homelessness, and they're at risk of losing it. In the Bay Area, Santa Clara County receives about $34 million dollars a year from the program. San Francisco gets around $50 million annually. The two Bay Area counties are among dozens of local governments around the nation suing the Trump administration over new grant conditions announced earlier this year. Tony LoPresti is Santa Clara County's chief counsel.
TONY LOPRESTI: Our ability to really make progress in combating homelessness and making sure that those families have not only shelter but the services that they need really hinges in large part on our ability to access these federal funds.
LAGOS: Under the new rules, local governments have to certify that they do not have DEI programs, don't promote, quote, "gender ideology," unquote, and don't have sanctuary immigration policies. HUD didn't respond to a request for comment, but in a post on X, HUD Secretary Scott Turner defended the shift as a way to push back against what he called a woke agenda. LoPresti says the new conditions are illegal and so vague they're impossible to comply with. Earlier this month, a federal judge sided with the counties, ordering a temporary halt to the new grant conditions, meaning that for now, the grant funding is safe, but that could change in the future. If the counties lose these ongoing legal battles, it'll pose difficult choices for organizations that operate housing developments, like the Bishop Swing House in San Francisco.
BETH STOKES: If it disappeared, then we would certainly be challenged - right? - to be able to keep these buildings funded and operating.
LAGOS: That's Beth Stokes, executive director of Episcopal Community Services. She says her organization will try to find funding to help keep Sloan and others in their apartments, but they may have to delay future projects aimed at getting even more homeless people off the streets. For NPR News, I'm Marisa Lagos in San Francisco. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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