It is appalling but not the least bit surprising that Trump has ordered HUD to kick formerly homeless Veterans out of stable housing – and also prevent current homeless ones from getting stable, permanent housing. He does however consider anyone who’s served a loser and a sucker. A lot of progress has been made in the last fifteen years towards reducing Veteran homelessness. Now, if Trump gets his way lots of Veterans will wind up climbing by a huge amount.
Full disclosure – this is personal for me. I became homeless and it was a VA social worker who helped me get into a transitional program and eventually into an apartment. Instead of HUD-VASH she got me into a different program but the subsidy for the apartment I’ve been living in since the fall of 2017 comes from HUD. Ever since Trump took office again and knowing he had Elon’s DOGE boyz running rampant there’s not a day that’s gone buy where I have spent time wondering when Trump would try to cut off my ability to live in a decent place. That time has come according to what I read in this article from EURweb:
The plan seeks to redirect federal funding away from long-term permanent supportive housing models toward shorter-term transitional programs, which often come with strings attached, such as work requirements or mandatory treatment. While the administration frames the move as a push for accountability and self-sufficiency, critics warn that it threatens to undo decades of progress in the fight against homelessness, CNN reports.
If implemented, the plan could result in the loss of housing for an estimated 170,000 formerly homeless people nationwide. Among the most vulnerable are veterans—a group that has seen historic reductions in homelessness over the past decade and a half.
Yes, the plan is already leading to legal challenges but I see an issue that worries the hell out of me. The war with Iran is only the latest instance of Trump just doing whatever the hell he wants. A judge issued a preliminary injunction yesterday blocking work on his freaking ballroom but without warning he’d long ago demolished the old East Wing. The literal damage was already done and trying to repair it will be a long and expensive process. He also got overturned on his cutting funding for NPR and PBS but a lot of people have been thrown out of work. Same with other agencies. What if he just orders HUD to cut off the money? My landlord can evict me with 30 days notice. What am I and so many others to do in the months, if not years this takes to play out in court, especially with new rules that erect barriers to getting back into a housing assistance program that is stable in the long-term? Given my health issues I might have trouble lasting even a year living in a tent in a homeless encampment. Same for tens, or even hundreds of thousands of others.
Please, I beg you to read the linked article. It’s an easy read albeit about an uncomfortable topic. It does however quickly explain the issues at stake and you’ll come away knowing basic information you should know, or want to know if you give a crap and don’t want an explosion in the numbers of homeless Veterans. Dealing with this problem is a variation of the old ‘chicken or egg’ question:
At the center of the controversy is a philosophical divide over how best to address chronic homelessness.
The current model—known as Housing First—prioritizes getting people into stable, permanent housing without preconditions. Support services like job training, mental health care, and addiction counseling are offered alongside, but not required as a condition of keeping a roof overhead. Decades of data show this approach reduces long-term homelessness, lowers emergency room visits, and saves taxpayer money over time.
The Trump administration’s proposal would steer funding back toward transitional programs that require participants to meet certain benchmarks—such as sobriety or employment—before being eligible for long-term housing. Supporters argue this encourages personal responsibility. Opponents call it a recipe for destabilization.
The linked article goes on to note the response to Team Trump’s position. It points out the practical issue of someone getting sober or getting (and for that matter keeping) a job when they don’t even have a safe place to sleep – “That’s not how recovery work” according to the advocate.
Well, I posted a not quite rant here on PZ yesterday about Trump’s contempt towards military service (ICE setting up to detain/deport loved ones who show up to watch their kids graduate from boot camp) and now there’s this. I went on my FB page and wrote about that too, including a challenge to the Congress Critter from my hometown who’s a fellow jarhead. I’m already unwelcome back there and I suspect that tossing out another challenge later today will piss people off back there even more. So be it. As both a Veterans and someone who’s worked in social services I’d be outraged over what Trump intends to do. But as I’ve said this is also personal for me.
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
Dennis, this is appalling, but as you write, unsurprising. This whole administration is built on cruelty and retribution. they really need to understand and follow the rules of Leviticus if they are going to live by Old Testament standards.
I do hope that those in your GOP Congressional building understand what these decisions will cost them. holding you all in my prayers.
Damn, Denis. This is beyond wretched. And it’s bullshizzle. I have no words, just screams. I’ll reach out to my Congress critters. At least we have two decent Senators. I wish I could do more to support you.
Do you think anyone in his circle of hell told him that even the maggots won’t go along with this? My WWII republican father would be frothing at the mouth over this in particular and the orange turd in general, as in what kind of an asshole is this? And my dad didn’t cuss.
90 seconds on Google shows that this is a bullshit and you’re just a lying piece of trash.
Oh, the proposed changes are dressed up by HUD as being positive but again, I know something about how this works both from a personal and professional viewpoint. In fact, the program that provided me temporary shelter while the social worker went about getting me into a long-term program is an inidicator of what’s coming. VOA got most of the funding for it from the federal government but just before I moved out their grant renewal included changes.
When I moved in clients were allowed to stay (and get training on managing finances, community resources, getting into community college or other training, keeping up with healthcare, creating a social support network etc.) for six months. Sometimes it was extended in fact. I was there about four months before moving in where I live now. Yes, we had rules to follow and yes those of us with at least some income paid a portion of it in rent. No guests were allowed in our rooms, only in the common area of the admin building or at the picnic table under the canopy. We had to sign in and out with our destination. And as I said we were expected to keep up with any care we were getting from the Durham VA down the road. We had to have a reason for missing classes in the common room – say the nurse coming in to talk about managing our health care including common problems people in our situation often face, learning how to develop a budget, learning about how to utilize public transportation since most didn’t have vehicles and other topics.
What we did NOT have to do was provide proof we’d gotten a job. Drug testing wasn’t mandatory but we were expected to comply if asked and sometimes someone’s behavior changed to warrant it. But mostly there was time, up to six months for people to be in a stable environment with lots of support from staff and fellow residents. A real shot at getting one’s shit together AND deal with paperwork for getting approved for things like HUD-VASH or the program I was routed into. I wasn’t homeless for all that long before being accepted into Maple Court so I could more easily access records and other needed stuff that many of my comrades who’d been on the streets for a long time. Years in some cases.
The new requirements that took effect as I was moving out shortened stays to three months and had some other conditions. I don’t recall having at least a part time job as being one of them, but if HUD is going to require work or substantial education requirements AND, as happened at Maple Court limit all such programs to only three months there’s a problem right there. As is the matter of someone being in a stable enough environment that supports them in maintaining sobriety for long enough to sustain it on their own. Frankly, looking around the room at others I’d be leaving behind in a week my heart sank knowing that quite a few would need the full six months and in a couple of cases longer to transition to living as I have since the fall of 2017. To me, people were being set up for failure and since now and then I’d touch base with Daniel (the program manager) learned I was right. Now HUD is wanting to turn what they make sosund like ‘common sense’ requirements into national policy. A lot of Veterans will wind up back on the streets and yes, even though the last drugs I did was while rip roaring drunk eat a couple of loaded brownies (even wasted something was weird about the texture I thought) a couple od years before joining the Corp. I also seldom drink. I bought a fifth of Jack Daniels on election day in 2020 and half of it is still left. So I’m not worried about a drug test. I was in my late fifties when I was involuntarily early retired on disability and after a couple thousand applications for jobs I got a grand total of SEVEN responses. That led to only three places calling me in for interviews and with each someone on the other side kept glancing at my cane. I was fucked on getting a job. And I know damned well that many Veterans that will be affected will be too whether because of age or having had brushes with the law at some point.
So we’re looking at a too short window for people to get into a stable routine and/or get their health (either mental or physical or both) stabilized, often too short a time frame to process paperwork for what housing assistance programs will exist if the proposed changes go into effect and what for many will be unrealistic work requirements.
Go fuck yourself. I’m not lying. Maybe like our P.O.S. draft dodging Chicken Hawk President you think I’m a sucker and loser for serving. So again, go fuck yourself.