Thousands could lose housing as court lifts ban on HUD funding changes

[Excerpt from article by Maia Nehme, September 22, 2026]

An appeals court temporarily lifted a ban on federal funding changes last week, a move advocates say puts thousands of Connecticut residents at risk of homelessness.

Last week, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals paused a district court ruling that had prohibited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development from overhauling its federal homelessness funding for the current fiscal year.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness had estimated HUD’s proposed changes would endanger the housing of at least 97,000 Americans. Sarah Fox, chief executive of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, estimated that at least 2,080 Connecticut residents — primarily long-term homeless and disabled people — could lose their housing now that the appellate court has allowed HUD’s changes to take effect.

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According to Connecticut’s annual point-in-time census of the homeless population, there were 3,847 people experiencing homelessness on Jan. 27 of this year, a 3% increase from last year. A February report from DataHaven attributed the uptick in homelessness over the past few years to rising housing costs.

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A representative with one of Connecticut’s continuums of care, the Opening Doors Initiative at the Housing Collective, said in an emailed statement that the loss of permanent housing would strain the state’s homelessness response system.

“The approaches to solving homelessness that HUD wants to prioritize — transitional housing, supportive services, sober housing and partnerships with law enforcement — all have a critical role to play, but they work well as complements to permanent supportive housing, not replacements for it,” the organization’s Chief Initiative Officer Jessica Kubicki said. “We urge HUD to listen to the communities closest to this work and protect the resources that help people find and maintain a permanent home.”

State Sen. Martha Marx, who represents New London and co-chairs the state legislature’s Housing Committee, said in a text message that HUD was “abandoning proven strategies in favor of what they want to do.”