Author: MD AG Staff      Published: December 22, 2025    Maryland A.G. Press 

Media Contacts:
press@oag.state.md.us
410-576-7009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

BALTIMORE, MD – A federal judge ordered the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to preliminarily halt changes to its Continuum of Care grant program – the largest resource for federal homelessness assistance funding – after Attorney General Anthony G. Brown and a coalition of states argued in court that the changes were unlawful and would leave tens of thousands of people around the country without a place to live.

“This ruling keeps roofs over the heads of more than 4,000 Marylanders who were at risk of going homeless under the administration’s inhumane policy,” said Attorney General Brown. “This is an important first step in this case, and we’ll keep fighting until these unlawful changes are permanently blocked.”

In her order orally granting a preliminary injunction, U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy barred HUD from implementing its proposed changes to the Continuum of Care program and directed HUD to process applications under the terms that existed prior to its unlawful program changes.

  Attorney General Brown and a coalition of attorneys general sued HUD in November for unlawfully upending support for people experiencing housing insecurity or homelessness by abruptly rescinding a necessary program notice, replacing it with another that limited access to long-term housing and other services. The lawsuit says HUD drastically changed its Continuum of Care grant program in violation of congressional intent by sharply reducing funding for permanent housing and putting unlawful conditions on access to the funding.

  The unlawful conditions include penalizing housing providers that recognize gender diversity and mandating residents agree to additional conditions to obtain housing. HUD also added unlawful conditions to punish providers in localities that do not enforce strict anti-homeless laws and disadvantage programs that address mental disabilities and substance use disorder. Those conditions go against HUD’s previous guidance and were not authorized by Congress. The program notice was also issued well after HUD’s congressionally mandated deadline for making program changes, virtually guaranteeing gaps in funding.

  Maryland’s Department of Housing and Community Development has estimated that, statewide, the challenged cap on permanent housing would result in more than $45 million in cuts to permanent housing projects and more than 4,000 individuals losing housing assistance.

  In their complaint, 20 attorneys general and two governors argued that HUD’s actions were arbitrary and capricious, as HUD made no effort to explain the abandonment of its own longstanding policies, failed to reckon with the obvious consequences of abruptly terminating funding for housing occupied by formerly homeless families and individuals, and violated the law by not following the timeline Congress set for this program and introducing the new conditions without congressional authorization. The plaintiffs also argued HUD violated its own regulations by not engaging in rulemaking before issuing the changes.

  Joining Attorney General Brown in filing the lawsuit were the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Massachusetts,  Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

###

Stay Connected with the Maryland Attorney General: