HUD's Turner Tells Appropriators "It's Not About the Money"
(June 16, 2025) Hearings on June 10th and 11th in the U.S. House and Senate on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) fiscal year 2026 (FY26) budget request to Congress surfaced both considerable disillusionment with HUD’s paltry FY26 request as well as camaraderie, among some members of Congress, with LeadingAge’s priorities.
Older adults, the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly program, and HUD’s freeze and court-ordered restart of its Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP) were highlighted at the hearing. Unfortunately, so too was HUD Secretary Scott Turner’s lack of information or answers to members’ questions on why HUD’s proposal to cut its funding by 43.6 percent will not lead to millions of people losing their housing.
“Let’s be clear: HUD’s FY26 request, if enacted, would destabilize the housing safety net, push millions of vulnerable people into homelessness, and dismantle decades of progress. LeadingAge shares lawmakers’ bipartisan outrage – expressed repeatedly during the hearings – at HUD’s proposal and its dangerous implications. HUD’s FY26 request is not a new direction – it’s a roadmap to displacement, instability, and preventable suffering. Congress must reject it,” LeadingAge said in a June 12th press release about HUD’s request.
The House and Senate Appropriations Committees are now writing their HUD funding bills, which will differ from each other, as the Oct. 1st start of FY26 nears. Read LeadingAge’s full article on the HUD FY26 hearings here, and reach out to your congressional lawmakers today to put older adults’ and providers’ concerns front and center. You can find the resources you need, including talking points and meeting tips, to help you get on their calendars here.
Contact: Annalyse Komoroske Denio, akomoroskedenio@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8866