If it were up to President Trump, federal rental and homelessness assistance programs would be on the chopping block.
On May 30, the White House sent a finalized budget request to lawmakers proposing historic cuts to federal housing programs in fiscal year 2026.
Congress has the sole power to allocate federal dollars, but the president’s budget request is a part of the annual appropriations process that reflects the administration’s priorities, according to a memo by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC).
More than two dozen federal housing programs and grants would lose funding for 2026 under Trump’s budget requests.
View the full breakdown of proposed HUD cuts: https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/WH-Request_HUD_Budget-Chart_FY26_v1.pdf
Among them is a proposal to slash $27 billion from HUD’s rental assistance programs, a 43% cut, and restructure how local governments receive the federal dollars, according to the NLIHC memo.
Right now, local housing authorities receive funds for rental assistance programs, like Section 8 housing vouchers, directly from the federal government.
Trump’s plan would restructure the federal rental assistance funds— $32 billion for fiscal year 2026 — into a block grant to be distributed by states. It would be called the State Rental Assistance Block Grant (SRABG) program, according to the NLIHC memo.
The budget request would also impose a two-year time limit on assistance, “for households in which neither the elderly nor persons with disabilities reside.”
Taken together, the funding and structural changes could weaken or eliminate several rental and homelessness assistance programs, including:
- Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCV), also known as Section 8
- Public Housing Programs
- Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA)
- Section 202 Housing for the Elderly
- Section 811 Housing for Persons with Disabilities
Michael Lundy, the CEO of St. Petersburg Housing Authority, said that the current funding model is working well for housing authorities, renters and landlords.
“Through this program, the landlords provide the housing product. We only subsidize…We provide the assistance for the participant,” he said.
He said that there is concern that restructuring HUD rental assistance dollars in a state-distributed block grant would create more competition among local housing authorities — and some agencies could lose out on needed funds.
“If it goes to the state, sometimes there's a reduced amount, and then you have all these entities competing for a few dollars,” he said.
Lundy said that the St. Petersburg Housing Authority pays landlords $52 million a year, on average, in federal subsidies for renters using housing choice vouchers, or Section 8. He said there’s concern that the policy could threaten those funds, but their hands are tied until the federal budget process is finalized.
At a networking event hosted by the St. Petersburg housing authority on Tuesday, landlords and property managers received workshop training and shared personal experiences participating in HUD’s housing choice voucher program, or Section 8.
The event, in partnership with the landlord education platform Buy It Rent It PROFIT Education, was held with the goal of encouraging more landlords to participate in the subsidized housing program.
Cassi Harbuck, a regional director with Palomar Properties in Pinellas County, said their around 1,800-unit portfolio already accepts Section 8 housing vouchers.
She said the federal housing dollars bring in dependable rent and help keep vacancies low in their apartments.
"In our industry, it's a matter of just filling our apartments. And the more they build here in Florida, the harder it becomes for us to have occupancy where we feel stable. So if we can help families at the same time they help us. It's a no-brainer,” she said.
In reaction to the changes proposed by Trump’s budget requests, she said the current system “is not broken.”
She said she’s not against restructuring the federal housing voucher programs “as long as it doesn’t take away the stability for landlords — because remember [our] budget, we’re month-over-month, so we pay our bills to keep the properties going.”
Gabriella Paul covers the stories of people living paycheck to paycheck in the greater Tampa Bay region for WUSF. She's also a Report for America corps member. Here’s how you can share your story with her.
