Cities Are Concerned About The Depth Of Proposed Hud Cuts

After last week’s unveiling of the White House’s proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2026, some cities and housing organizations have reacted with anxiety and exasperation over the depths of cuts detailed for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Several major cities and housing organizations situated within them — including Boston, Cleveland and Seattle — have expressed alarm about the proposal. They are particularly worried about what it could mean for project-based rental assistance programs, which many low-income residents rely upon.

Cleveland and Boston: Severe cuts, job losses

In a conversation this week with former HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros — who led the department during the Clinton administration — Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb responded to Cisneros’ question about what the cuts would mean for the city if enacted.

“Loss of jobs internally at City Hall, a loss of jobs in many of our social service nonprofits who serve working class Clevelanders across this community, and maybe forcing some of our CDCs to close or consolidate,” he said, according to reporting by a local NBC affiliate.

Bibb said that the moment requires a concerted, unified effort across the public and private sectors to push back against the proposals.

“In this moment right now, we don’t need just mayors and governors and other local electors talking about this,” Bibb said at a meeting of the National Housing Crisis Task Force. “We need our private sector partners talking to the Trump administration and Congress about what these cuts are going to mean for our housing economy.”

In Boston, Michael Kane, a co-chair of the Leaders and Organizers for Tenant Empowerment (LOFTE) told Boston.com that the organization seeks to “communicate strongly that this is not acceptable and that there should be no cuts to HUD rental housing assistance — they should be increasing it.”

Kane added that the budget proposal is “even worse” than the one hatched by Russell Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), during the first Trump administration.

But the outlet reported that Massachusetts is in a “fortunate position” since there are state-based rental assistance programs, according to Matt Noyes, the public policy director at the Citizens’ Housing & Planning Association.

Seattle-area officials paint dire picture

Officials in Seattle and surrounding King County, Washington, have also voiced concerns for the proposal, according to a story published Tuesday by The Seattle Times.

“The Trump administration, by combining cuts to housing with cuts to health care and social services, along with increasing inflation and the rising costs of groceries and other essentials, will likely push entire families, communities, and generations into poverty,” Anne Martens, a spokesperson with the King County Housing Authority, told the Times.

Washington Sen. Patty Murray (D), who serves as co-chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, sounded off on proposed HUD cuts by saying they would “rip the roofs off Americans’ heads and put even more families at risk of homelessness,” the Times reported.

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell added that city leaders would work with municipal and federal lawmakers to push back on the proposal.

“We know Seattle’s delegation recognizes the important role the federal government must play in helping prevent homelessness and protect vulnerable families,” the mayor’s office told the Times in a statement.

The road ahead

While the budget proposal is non-binding, the president’s budget is often the starting point for any debate about spending levels that Congress will undertake.

As of now, the federal government has a spending plan in place until the end of September. It also has an ambitious deregulatory and tax reform agenda with a targeted passage date in July. Some observers have said this will be challenging for the Republican-led Congress to fully deliver to the satisfaction of the president.

The Seattle Times noted in its report an observation made to HousingWire by David Dworkin, president and CEO of the National Housing Conference (NHC). Dworkin said he thinks that members of Congress, including Republicans, could not support such cuts.

“That would be consistent with past budgets going back to President Reagan, where OMB recommended cuts, but the process ultimately led to negotiations that preserved many key programs,” he said.

Speaking more broadly, bipartisan members of Congress have already described misgivings about the budget proposal.