In
a
filing
in
Rhode
Island
federal
court,
government
lawyers
said
the

Department
of
Housing
and
Urban
Development
(HUD)
had
withdrawn
recent
changes
to
its
$3
billion

Continuum
of
Care
(CoC)
grant
program
so
it
could
assess
issues
raised
in
the
lawsuits,
Reuters
first
reported.
 

HUD
told
the
court
it
intends
to
release
a
revised
policy
before
January
application
deadlines.

The
reversal
landed
roughly
an
hour
before
U.S.
District
Judge
Mary
McElroy
convened
a
scheduled
hearing
on
whether
to
freeze
the
new
rules,
which
were
unveiled
last
month.
McElroy
postponed
a
ruling
and
set
a
new
hearing
for
Dec.
19,
but
sharply
criticized
the
administration’s
last-minute
pivot.

“It
feels
like
intentional
chaos,”
McElroy
said.
“You
can
change
the
policy
all
you
want
(but)
there’s
a
mechanism
for
doing
so.”

HUD
had
framed
the
overhaul
to
its
CoC
program
as
a
shift
away
from
the
long-standing
housing-first
model
toward
transitional
housing
with
work
requirements
and
behavioral
conditions.

The
now-withdrawn
overhaul
also
would
have
imposed
a
cap
on
funding
for
permanent
housing,
prohibited
grants
to
organizations
serving
transgender
communities
and
added
new
restrictions
barring
funding
for
diversity
and
inclusion
efforts,
elective
abortions,
gender
ideology
and
any
activity
viewed
as
undermining
federal
immigration
enforcement,

Reuters
added.

States,
cities
and
nonprofit
organizations
filed
multiple

lawsuits
arguing
that
the
changes
violated
federal
law,
targeted
LGBTQ
people
and
other
disfavored
groups
—
and
ran
counter
to
the
purpose
of
the
program
Congress
created
in
1987.

They
also

warned
that
changes
could
potentially
put
more
than
170,000
people
at
risk
of
losing
their
housing.

For
decades,
the
CoC
program
has
supported
a
wide
range
of
services
for
unhoused
people,
including
childcare,
job
training,
mental
health
counseling
and
transportation
—
with
a
mandate
to
prioritize
veterans,
families
and
people
with
disabilities.