NOTE: The Maryland Office of the Attorney General shared the following press release:
BALTIMORE – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown, with a coalition of 18 other attorneys general and the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania, won their case challenging the Trump administration’s unlawful conditions on billions of dollars in funding that community organizations across the country rely on to provide housing and services for families experiencing homelessness.
In November 2025, Attorney General Brown joined the coalition in suing the Trump administration to protect more than $3 billion in Continuum of Care (CoC) funds that were jeopardized by unlawful new conditions imposed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). These funds support vital resources for those most at risk of homelessness, such as veterans, those with disabilities, and transgender individuals. The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island today granted critical parts of the coalition’s motion for summary judgment, ruling that HUD’s conditions restricting CoC funding are unlawful and cannot be implemented.
“This ruling keeps roofs over the heads of thousands of Marylanders who were at risk of losing their homes under the Trump Administration’s inhumane policy,” said Attorney General Brown. “The court’s decision stops that unlawful scheme and protects the tens of millions of dollars that Maryland communities depend on to fight homelessness.”
In November 2025, HUD issued a new grant application form containing unlawful conditions on CoC grants that threatened funding that coalitions of community organizations receive to provide housing and other support for those experiencing homelessness. The administration imposed a cap on the amount of CoC funds that can support Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH). If enacted, this cap would have slashed CoC funds for PSH by two-thirds and put an estimated 170,000 people at risk of losing their homes.
HUD also imposed other conditions, barring CoC funds from organizations that acknowledge the existence of transgender or nonbinary individuals and excluding programs that provide services for mental disabilities. Attorney General Brown and the coalition argued in their lawsuit that these conditions violate the Administrative Procedure Act and Congress’ constitutional power to control spending.
Maryland’s Department of Housing and Community Development estimated that, statewide, the 30% cap on permanent housing would have resulted in more than $45 million in cuts to permanent housing projects and more than 4,000 individuals losing housing assistance.
In a decision on the coalition’s motion for summary judgment, the court ruled that the conditions on CoC funding that HUD implemented in its 2025 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) violate the Administrative Procedure Act and cannot be implemented.
Joining Attorney General Brown in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the governors of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.