Boston has joined seven other cities and counties in a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration after $3.6 billion in housing and homelessness prevention grants was cut — unless the communities comply with a slew of executive orders and conditions from the president.
Boston would lose $48 million in previously-awarded funding to combat homelessness unless the city complies with the executive orders, which the City administration called “unrelated to housing and likely unconstitutional.”
“Boston will not back down on making our city a home for everyone,” said Mayor Michelle Wu in a statement.
“We are joining other cities and counties across the country to protect critical funding to prevent homelessness and house families in need,” Wu said.
The requirements from the federal government would force the city to “make legal promises that conflict with local laws, values, and long-standing efforts to support residents and connect them with stable housing,” the city said.
This includes conditions on immigration enforcement, health care, practices around Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and how the cities support transgender and gender-diverse people.
“The conditions appear to require federal grant recipients to agree to promote the political agenda President Trump campaigned on during his run for office and has continued espousing since,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit listed several Executive Orders, such as “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders,” and “Protecting American Communities from Criminal Aliens.”
The Executive Orders:
Federal agency heads are to ensure that grant recipients do “not operate any programs promoting DEI,” yet the order does not define DEI.Federal agency heads must ensure that federal payments go to states and municipalities that do not promote “sanctuary” policies.Direct the Attorney General, along with the Secretary of Homeland Security, to identify “sanctuary jurisdictions” to take steps to withhold federal funding from such places.
“The EO Condition is unconstitutionally vague,” the lawsuit states. “Executive orders are the President’s directive to federal agencies. These orders are unintelligible as applied to grant recipients. Further, the directives as implemented in the unlawful conditions at issue are vague and unintelligible.”
The grants being withheld are part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s “Continuum of Care” (CoC) program, which is “the single largest source of federal funding” used by Boston and other cities to combat homelessness, the city said.
In Boston, the CoC program annually funds more than 18 nonprofit organizations with over 125 employees for their work in permanent supportive housing for people with disabilities, rapid re-housing for those exiting homelessness and transitional housing for survivors of domestic violence and others in crisis.
Boston joined seven other jurisdictions the suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court through the federal Western District of Washington on Friday. The other communities include including King County, Washington; New York, New York; Columbus, Ohio; the City and County of San Francisco, California; and Pierce County and Snohomish County in Washington.
