Advocate

May 8, 2025, Orange County, California.

United to End Homelessness calls on our Members of the Orange County Congressional Delegation to work with the Administration on housing related funding cuts proposed in the 2026 fiscal year budget. The discretionary budget framework proposed by the White House would take away funding from programs that help expand housing supply and would dramatically shrink the federal rental aid that helps keep millions of people housed. If enacted, many people in Orange County will be affected by these cuts and they would further increase the number of people experiencing homelessness.

On May 2, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) sent President Trump’s topline discretionary Budget request for fiscal year 2026 to Congress. The proposed budget includes $33 billion in cuts from 2025 levels for the Department of Housing and Urban development. At United to End Homelessness, we know that housing solves homelessness, so by eliminating funding that increases housing supply, programs that prevent people from falling into homelessness, and programs that help people end their homelessness will only exacerbate housing and homelessness problems in Orange County.

United to End Homelessness is specifically concerned about programs that play a key role in the wellbeing of Orange County.

• The budget calls for cutting rental aid by 43%. In 2024, our local communities received $646,526,619 to support rental assistance and voucher programs.* This cut comes as 81% of extremely low-income households in Orange County are spending more than half of their income on housing costs.** Cutting funding for those who need it most will only increase the likelihood of families falling into homelessness and continue to overwhelm the homelessness response system.
• The budget proposes consolidating the Continuum of Care (CoC) Program—along with Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA)—into the Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) program and would cap rental assistance at two years. Our CoC is the main way the federal government distributes funds to fight homelessness – this proposal would dramatically impact programs that would put 1,100 Orange County households at grave risk of falling back into homelessness. In 2024, Orange County received $33,823,313 through the CoC.*
• The budget proposes to eliminate the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, which provides grants to over 1,200 State and local governments for a wide range of community and economic development activities. In 2024, 18 cities and the County of Orange received $28,143,175 in CDBG funding to support local developments*
• Finally, the budget eliminates HOME funding, grants that assist state and local governments to expand the supply of housing. In 2024, 9 cities and the County of Orange received $7,515,367 in HOME funding to support affordable housing.*

Should these proposed cuts become a reality, the Orange County community will feel the burden of eliminating programs that are in place to create stability and solve homelessness. We are better equipped to help our unhoused community when all levels of government partner with local communities and people with lived experience in making federal homelessness programs more innovative and effective.

United to End Homelessness looks forward to working closely with the Administration and our Members of Congress to find more sustainable solutions to solving the homelessness crisis in Orange County.

*Federal Funding Data Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service

**California Housing Partnership, Orange County 2025 Affordable Housing Needs Report