Wisconsin Department of Justice Secures Order Protecting Federal Support for Homelessness Services
MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) and a multistate coalition have won their case challenging the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) illegal attempt to cap funding for permanent housing projects that help families facing housing insecurity or experiencing homelessness. If the coalition had not successfully challenged HUD’s policy, up to 1,300 individuals would have lost their homes in Wisconsin.
“This is now the second time we’ve stopped the Trump administration from making the challenges that communities face with homelessness worse,” said AG Kaul. “The administration should stop trying to get around the law and stop trying to destabilize this program.”
For more than two decades, HUD has embraced a commitment to permanent housing programs and the Housing First model, which prioritizes rapid placement in permanent housing without requiring people to first meet conditions such as sobriety or a minimum income threshold. But the current federal administration has rejected that commitment and undermined the Continuum of Care (CoC) program, the majority of whose funds have traditionally supported permanent housing and other projects that have been shown to work .
In June, the states won a separate case against HUD in federal court in Rhode Island regarding the agency’s decision last year to impose similar illegal conditions on billions of dollars in funding for the CoC program, including an attempt to impose a cap on the amount of CoC funds that can support permanent supportive housing.
After that cap was struck down as unlawful, HUD changed its tactics. The agency issued a notice of funding opportunity that would have created a $1.3 billion set-aside for new projects prioritizing such things as transitional housing, which would have resulted in a de facto cap on permanent housing. That shift threatened housing for at least 97,000 residents of CoC-funded permanent housing across the country, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
In July, Wisconsin DOJ again joined a coalition of states in suing to block these harmful changes. Last week, the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island granted critical parts of the coalition’s motion for summary judgment, ruling that HUD’s set-aside was unlawful and cannot be implemented.
Wisconsin DOJ is joined in this suit by the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington, as well as the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
Mentioned in This Press Release
Recent Press Releases by Wisconsin Department of Justice
Wisconsin Department of Justice Sues Trump Administration to Protect Wisconsin Residents’ Personal Information
Aug 4th, 2026 by Wisconsin Department of JusticeWisconsin DOJ Takes Action to Stop Illegal Sharing of TANF Recipients’ Private Data
Wisconsin Department of Justice Joins Lawsuit Challenging Trump Administration’s Effort to Expand Catastrophic Health Insurance Plans and Again Undermine Affordable Care Act Protections
Aug 4th, 2026 by Wisconsin Department of JusticeCoalition Sues Over Federal Rule That Reinstates Provisions Blocked by a Federal Court and Adds New Harmful Changes
