The Lyndia at 3368 Washington St. in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood opened this spring offering 140 supportive apartments for formerly homeless individuals operated by the Pine Street Inn. Image courtesy of RODE Architects
A week after Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell sued the Trump administration over an attempt to reduce funding for supportive housing, the city of Boston and several nonprofits have jumped on board with a second lawsuit.
At issue is Trump administration changes to he U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Continuum of Care program. State and local officials say the changes threaten housing provided for almost 4,000 people trying to get out of or avoid falling into homelessness in Massachusetts.
Campbell’s office said 11 programs in Massachusetts get $136 million every year from HUD to help provide supportive housing, which comes with health care and services to treat some of the reasons people become homeless, like addiction and trauma. Without providing housing first, advocates and experts say services trying to tackle addiction are often ineffective.
“With 98% of our tenants remaining housed after a year, and a street homelessness rate of under 2.5%, we are doing something right in Boston,” Pine Street Inn President and Executive Director Lyndia Downie said in a statement released by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s office. “With data proving the efficacy of permanent supportive housing, it would be disastrous to abandon this approach, and would set back our progress by decades.”
“We cannot go back to systems that were proven ineffective and often harmful to people who are struggling, most through no fault of their own,” Downie’s statement continued.
A little under half that amount – $48 million supporting “over 2,000” households – is channeled through the city of Boston to local service providers like the Pine Street Inn and the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance.
“This is not a budget cut, rather it represents a profound policy shift, breaking a long-standing bipartisan commitment that has supported our local communities,” MHSA CEO Joyce Tavon, said in a statement a MHSA spokesperson provided to Banker & Tradesman. “For thousands of landlords and nonprofit agencies, these funds have been a reliable resource providing housing and services for formerly homeless individuals. This abrupt change undermines collaboration between the public and private sectors and threatens the stability, health, and well-being of some of our most vulnerable residents.”
Campbell’s office announced its suit Nov. 25 in partnership with 20 other state attorneys general. The cities of Boston and Cambridge and five other cities and counties across the country filed a second lawsuit Monday, along with a coalition of advocacy groups like the National Alliance to End Homelessness and the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
HUD suddenly shifted the rules for Continuum of Care funds on Nov. 13, Campbell’s office said, so that instead of 90 percent of the 2026 grant money being dedicated permanent housing as has been typical, only 30 percent would go towards permanent housing.
“Massachusetts has a housing crisis, and it affects all of us – families, seniors, students and young people alike. Research has shown that getting people off the streets and into stable housing builds a foundation for addressing other pressing needs like job training, mental health care, and substance use treatment,” Campbell said in a statement last week. “Instead of helping us tackle our critical housing problem, the federal government is standing in our way and putting thousands of vulnerable people at risk. We will continue to challenge this Administration’s cruel and illegal policies that harm our residents and impede our progress.”
In Boston alone, Wu’s office said the changes would represent a $29 million cut to supportive housing dollars.
“Permanent supportive housing has been a key to tackling homelessness and keeping Bostonians stable and safe in our community. The Trump Administration’s harmful changes to this longstanding program could leave more than 1,100 Bostonians homeless,” Wu said in a statement.
Editor’s Note: 4:50 p.m. Dec. 2, 2025: This story has been updated to correct the names of the groups that have filed a second lawsuit against the Continuum of Care changes. The parties bringing that lawsuit now include the state of Massachusetts and 20 other states; the cities of Boston and Cambridge plus seven other counties and municipalities nationwide; and four nonprofits and advocacy groups.
