Cuts in housing subsidies could result in 600,000 evictions, report warns
Consumer advocates are urging Congress to act
• Report warns housing cuts could put more than 600,000 people at risk of losing homes
• HUD policy shifts threaten funding gaps for homelessness programs
• Advocates urge Congress to fully fund rental assistance in 2026 budget
As Congress races toward a January deadline to finalize the next round of federal spending bills, housing advocates are warning that proposed cuts could leave more than 600,000 people struggling to pay rent — a significant share of whom would face heightened risk of eviction and homelessness.
The looming reductions would compound already deep cuts to health and food assistance enacted earlier this year in a Republican-backed “megabill,” raising the stakes for low-income households, according to the report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
The report urges lawmakers to use the 2026 funding package to preserve current levels of housing assistance and stabilize communities already strained by rising rents and record homelessness.
HUD homelessness program faces major disruption
At the center of the concerns is HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) program, the federal government’s primary homelessness assistance system. HUD recently issued — and then temporarily rescinded — a funding notice that would cap supportive-service spending at 30 percent, down from about 87 percent under current policy. The department itself estimates the shift would strip rental assistance and services from more than 170,000 formerly homeless people.
Beyond the policy change, the timing of the notice has created immediate uncertainty. Some communities expecting CoC funds in January will receive nothing until HUD reissues the corrected guidance and completes a delayed grantmaking process. Many local agencies lack the resources to bridge the gap, raising the likelihood that assistance programs will scale back or shut down and that people who recently secured housing could return to homelessness.
The report calls on Congress to direct HUD to renew all existing CoC grants for 2026 — effectively completing the two-year funding cycle launched in 2025 — to prevent service disruptions without requiring a funding increase.
Emergency Housing Vouchers face a 2026 funding cliff
The successful Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) program, which helps more than 50,000 households experiencing or at risk of homelessness, is also approaching a major funding shortfall in 2026. While both the House and Senate include partial fixes in their draft HUD bills, neither would fully cover the looming gap. Without supplemental funding, thousands of families could lose the rental assistance that has allowed them to stay housed and safe.
Voucher program squeezed by inflation and underfunding
The Housing Choice Voucher program, the nation’s largest federal rental assistance effort, is similarly at risk. Draft House and Senate spending bills fail to include enough funding to keep pace with inflation and maintain current voucher levels. According to the report, as many as 411,000 people could lose assistance under the House bill and about 243,000 under the Senate version.
With many housing agencies already pausing voucher issuance to manage costs, advocates warn that further underfunding will accelerate the decline in available assistance and drive more households into severe housing hardship.
Cuts would compound pressure from earlier reductions
Taken together, the proposed reductions could leave hundreds of thousands more people without stable, affordable homes — at a time when more than 24 million renters already spend over half their income on rent and homelessness has reached record levels. The report argues that cuts to Medicaid and SNAP included in this year’s megabill will further strain household budgets, making it even harder for families to maintain housing and increasing the need for — not the availability of — assistance.
Advocates call for guardrails and long-term solutions
The report also urges Congress to add protections against partisan rescissions and the withholding of funds, and to ensure agencies have the staff needed to manage housing programs efficiently. Longer-term, it calls for expanding rental assistance, increasing supportive services, and boosting the supply of affordable homes.
Housing costs remain the largest expense for most low- and moderate-income households, the report notes — and without sustained federal commitment, rising homelessness and deepening rent burdens are likely to worsen in the years ahead.