Arlington government leaders appear willing to fill financial gaps if the federal government reduces housing grants to support vulnerable populations — but they don’t know how big those gaps might be.
“We’re not going to not find a way to fund it. We’re not going to let that all fall apart,” Board member Maureen Coffey said at the Housing Commission’s Jan. 15 meeting, which looked at impacts of current and future budget cuts to federal housing funds.
She was speaking on the issue of permanent supportive housing, which helps at-risk individuals both with securing living space and services to help them get, and keep, their lives on track.
Late in 2025, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) withdrew guidelines for upcoming “continuum-of-care” funding to support the unhoused. A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction blocking the delay of the funding while the matter makes its way through the courts.
Despite that victory, local leaders say uncertainty about the future of these and other federal housing grants has had a chilling impact on organizations and governments working to support those without homes.
As to what Arlington and the region stand to lose in federal supportive-housing funding, Coffey said “no one knows.”
“It could be $2 million, it could be $10 million,” she said. “It’s also possible we don’t know until it’s too late to do anything about it.”
County Manager Mark Schwartz and his staff are working to prepare a proposed fiscal year 2027 budget plan, set to be released to the public and County Board in February.
At the meeting, Housing Commission member Joe Ventrone said the county government needed to do more to let the public know what it was doing on housing issues, not just to address federal cuts but across the board.
“We have to communicate better,” he said. “The taxpayers I talk to … they don’t see the good stuff we have.”
On Jan. 14, the board of directors of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments voted to ask Congress and the Trump administration to bring back predictability when it comes to funding homeless services at the local level.
“When that funding is delayed or disrupted, it creates immediate operational risks for providers and immediate stability risk for people who depend on that housing and services,” said Christine Hong, who chairs the Homeless Services Committee of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG).
Disruptions in services “can ripple very quickly,” she said. “Even a short delay creates a real risk. Providers can be forced into emergency situations.”
Members of the COG board of directors voted unanimously to ask congressional leaders and HUD to maintain the expected flow of funding for 2026 as new rules are put in place for the future.
“Protecting the funds is critical,” said Andrea Bailey, a member of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.
While not all federal housing funding that flows to localities is at risk this fiscal year, even modest cuts will be felt, Hong said.
“The harm to them will be very real,” she said of funding reductions. “It risks retraumatizing all the people we’ve worked so hard to house.”
At the meeting, director David Snyder — representing the Falls Church City Council — said housing grants are just one area where the Trump administration is seeking to cut funding needed by localities. He pointed to issues like emergency management, transportation, the environment, “and on and on.”
County Board member Takis Karantonis said regional leaders needed to remain vigilant for cuts in other federal services.
“I don’t believe this is the last time we’ll have to deal with this,” he said at the Jan. 14 meeting.
