Potential Trump housing change could hinder Sacramento’s homelessness efforts
Sacramento County could lose money to support more than 1,000 affordable houses used to help people stay out of homelessness if the Trump administration follows through on a proposed funding change.
That is roughly two-thirds of the county’s housing units designated for that purpose and could cause many people to become homeless again, warned Lisa Bates, the CEO of Sacramento Steps Forward, which coordinates federal homelessness funding for the area.
Her comments came during a break Tuesday at a meeting that brought together elected leaders from communities across the county to discuss one of the area’s most stubborn issues: homelessness.
“We’re going to have to come together in ways we never have before,” Bates said. “We’re going to have to think about all of our different funding streams, we’re going to have to prioritize what’s most important in the moment.”
Her concerns follow a report by Politico that said the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was considering capping the amount of money that local organizations like hers can use for permanent housing to 30%.
Sacramento Steps Forward received $40.5 million from the federal agency for housing and homelessness programs. It currently uses about 87% of that money for permanent housing, the organization said.
“We have so many people that are currently housed that could immediately become unhoused as a result of that shift,” Bates said.
Representatives for HUD did not respond to an email requesting comment on the proposal from The Sacramento Bee. The agency is operating in a limited capacity during the federal government shutdown.
Sacramento Steps Forward reports that it subsidizes housing for roughly 1,600 units. A 2024 survey by the organization estimated that more than 6,600 people were experiencing homelessness across Sacramento County.
A major goal of Tuesday’s meeting was to increase collaboration among officials across the county.
And Bates is advocating for the creation of a local task force that includes elected officials and staff from her organization so they can respond more quickly to these and other changes.
“It’s been really difficult for us, as a support for the backbone infrastructure of the system, when there’s so much misalignment of where communities are focusing their efforts,” Bates said. “And we’re not going to have that luxury anymore, we’re going to have to be really, really disciplined.
Alex Visotzky, a California policy fellow for the National Alliance to End Homelessness, an organization based in Washington, D.C., also raised concerns about the potential funding cap during Tuesday’s meeting.
He told the group of elected officials that the proposed change would affect “an extremely vulnerable population,” which includes people who are older, have disabilities or are fleeing domestic violence.
“There may be further risks to funding,” Visotzky said, “further policy changes that are on the horizon.”
This story was originally published October 28, 2025 at 4:30 PM.
