Key housing programs are facing cuts as part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) budget process. The House Appropriations subcommittee released its HUD spending bill for fiscal year 2027 on May 20th and like last year, the committee adopted many of the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to housing programs while rejecting some of the more harmful changes.
Proposals for unnecessary work reporting requirements and the elimination of the Continuums of Care (local networks of homeless services) were rejected while the cuts that made it into the proposal include:
- An overall 8% cut in HUD funding.
- A 29% decrease in public housing capital needs funding – full funding is essential to maintain our country’s limited stock of public housing complexes.
- An effective cut in rental assistance programs, as the modest 1.5% increase in funding would not cover the cost of rent increases for the families that are already receiving rental assistance. Without sufficient funding for contract renewals, agencies cannot reissue vouchers when a household no longer needs one, leading to a drop in the number of vouchers available to help families.
- The bill does not include guardrails to protect the funding, which are essential to ensure distribution to communities and explicitly prevent executive actions that rescind, freeze, or stall the funding.
What Housing Cuts Means for Missouri
These cuts to HUD programs would be devastating to families that rely on rental assistance and cause people in Missouri to lose their homes.
In 2024, Missouri saw the single highest rent increase out of any state in the country and our housing costs continue to increase. Approximately 70% of our nearly 800,000 renter households are cost-burdened, meaning they pay more than one-third of their income on household costs, leaving little left for groceries, gas and other basic needs. As these prices continue to rise as well, it’s becoming harder for families to pay their rent or mortgage and some folks unfortunately just cannot afford to stay housed.
While homelessness decreased overall in the United States, Missouri saw a 14% increase in homelessness between 2024 and 2025 according to the recently released Point in Time estimates. Our neighbors are living in their cars, staying in extended stay motels, sleeping over with family members, friends, or coworkers, and unfortunately sometimes having no shelter to sleep in at all.
Missouri families are already facing some of the largest rent increases in the country and these increased costs of living and housing cuts impact children and elderly communities the hardest, particularly in rural communities.
Over 170,000 people in Missouri receive federal rental assistance and 56% of housing assistance goes to households with niños. Rental assistance programs support more elderly members of our community than any other government program with the exception of Social Security and HUD’s Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing program (HUD-VASH) combines rental assistance for homeless Veterans through the Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCV) with case management and clinical services provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
These programs are powerful tools in combating homelessness, reducing the number of individuals and households living in shelters and by 75%. The Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCV) has proven to be one of the most effective housing assistance programs in the country, showing that children who live in homes receiving rental assistance perform better in school and earn more as adults, helping them transition from generational poverty into a newfound future.
Housing First is another evidence-based effective approach in reducing homelessness. Evidence from a systematic review of 26 studies indicates that Housing First programs decreased homelessness by 88% y improved housing stability by 41%, compared to Treatment First programs. Adults receiving rental assistance benefits show improvements in health outcomes like diabetes and obesity, reducing overall costs on health care.
The full House Appropriations Committee will begin markup this week to finalize the funding proposal and it’s imperative we tell Congress to deny these funding cuts and protect our housing assistance programs.
Take Action
Essential housing programs are at-risk as the U.S. Congress debates the funding bill for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The initial subcommittee proposal included an 8% overall funding cut and did not fully fund rental assistance programs. The House Appropriations Committee is expected to finalize its HUD funding bill in June.
Similar cuts were defeated last year thanks to people standing up across the country to voice their support for housing assistance. We need a similar outcry this year and are asking for your support. Now is the time to tell Missouri’s representatives in Congress how important this funding is for our communities and urge them to reject cuts to HUD and protect housing assistance for Missouri families.
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