Affordable Senior Housing News 2026July10

Judge Protects HUD Housing First Funding, For Now

On June 29, the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island ruled that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) wrongfully imposed new funding criteria for fiscal year 2025 homeless assistance awards that threatened housing for people served by programs like permanent supportive housing that follow a “housing first” model of initially addressing the housing needs of someone experiencing homelessness and subsequently adding on services and supports as appropriate. In a case watched by grantees of HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) homeless assistance program, including some LeadingAge members, the National Alliance to End Homelessness and others argued that HUD’s abrupt change in eligible uses of CoC funding away from the housing first model would risk the housing of 170,000 currently assisted people. The ruling only applies to HUD’s use of FY25 funds, but HUD has signaled similar constraints will be applied for the fiscal year 2026 funding provided by Congress. In a statement, the Alliance said it “remains deeply concerned with the Administration’s continued meddling in federal grantmaking, including similarly reckless changes in the FY 2026 CoC Program [Notice of Funding Opportunity], and is reviewing all legal and advocacy options available to appropriately protect communities that would be harmed by these and future actions.” LeadingAge has been tracking this issue; we are pleased with the ruling and share the Alliance’s concerns about the stability of future funding. 

Join LeadingAge RAD for PRAC Peer-Sharing Call: July 16, 2:30pm ET. 

LeadingAge recently convened our housing members utilizing the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) for senior housing preservation. During the discussion, we developed policy feedback for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) related to pre-conversion rent boosts through the Preservation Rent Increase (PRI) initiative. LeadingAge has given HUD our feedback about managing PRI approvals through a time-limited approach instead of a waitlist approach, and the agency has indicated an openness to adopting this approach for future funding tranches of PRI from Congress. LeadingAge calls on our membership to join our advocacy on the Hill to ensure that more funding is appropriated for RAD - take action here to reach out to your lawmakers on HUD's FY27 funding package. In the meantime, HUD has received enough RAD financing plans to fully consume both current PRI funding tranches ($6 million previously appropriated and $4 million recently appropriated for FY26). As a result, according to HUD, any new RAD for PRAC conversion plan submissions with PRI after May 29, 2026, will be wait-listed and will be evaluated on a first-come-first-serve basis. However, LeadingAge has learned there may be an opportunity to relieve some pressure on the PRI funding account by meeting certain closing dates within RAD conversions. LeadingAge is hosting our next RAD for PRAC Peer-Sharing call to discuss the implications of the PRI oversubscription and the feasibility of expedited timelines for closing. Register here for our next RAD for PRAC Peer-Sharing call on July 16 at 2:30pm ET. 

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