Homelessness could rise after Trump cuts, advocates say

From CalMatters homelessness reporter Marissa Kendall:

For weeks, homeless service providers in California have been fretting over rumors that the federal government would cut funds for permanent housing.

Now those cuts are here. Shortly after the federal government reopened, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a policy change which would divert the majority of federal homelessness funds from permanent housing to temporary shelter.

Each jurisdiction applying for a share of about $4 billion in federal homeless funds in fiscal year 2025 can now spend no more than 30 percent of its grant on permanent housing. This is a big change. For years, the federal government and California cities and counties have prioritized permanent housing as a long-term solution to homelessness. Los Angeles County, for example, devotes more than 80% of its federal funds to permanent housing.

President Donald Trump’s administration instead wants cities and counties to focus on temporary shelters that get people off the street quickly and on programs that require people to participate in addiction treatment.

• Scott TurnerHUD Secretary: “We’re stopping the Biden-era slush fund that fueled the homelessness crisis, excluded religious providers simply because of their values, and fueled endless government dependence.”

The National Homelessness Law Center says these changes will force about 170,000 people across the country out of subsidized housing and back onto the streets.

• Jesse Rabinowitzspokesperson: “Trump’s approach to homelessness will make life worse for most people, waste taxpayer money and instead direct taxpayer money to debunked, disproven and failed approaches to homelessness.”

The new policy also attacks the organizations’ diversity and inclusion efforts; transgender client support; and using “harm reduction” strategies that seek to reduce overdose deaths by helping people with active addictions use drugs more safely. Federal funds cannot be used for projects that support any of these efforts.

California federal judge delivered another loss to the Trump administration on Fridaywriting in a preliminary ruling that his demand that UCLA pay $1.2 billion in damages or risk continuing to freeze research grant funding was illegal, CalMatters’ Mikhail Zinstein writes.

Along with academics, professors, students and other UC staff, Judge Rita Lynn called Trump’s actions against the state university “coercive and retaliatory.” Her decision goes beyond just UCLA and limits the Trump administration’s ability to withhold current and future grant funding for the entire UCLA system.

This summer, the Trump administration accused UCLA of not doing enough to combat anti-Semitism during last year’s pro-Palestinian protests and of allegedly violating federal civil rights law. She sought a $1.2 billion settlement from UCLA campus is eligible it would seriously impede academic freedom and the institution’s diversity efforts.

The administration may appeal Lynn’s decision, and the full merits of the case are still being heard in the courts.

Read more here.

Speaking of the UCLA case: The administration’s influence over UCLA has remained unclear for months since Lynn ordered it to return nearly all of those grants — more than $500 million in total — in August and September. Mikhail and Director of Video Strategy Robert Meeks have a video segment the decisions to recover these subsidies as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58pm weekdays on PBS SoCal.

Let’s dive into some environmental news:

• The impact of data centers: Electricity use and carbon emissions from energy-intensive data centers in California nearly doubled between 2019 and 2023, a new report says. Published by environmental think tank Next 10 and UC Riverside researchers, the report also estimates that the public health costs of data center-related air pollution have potentially risen from $45 million to more than $155 million over the same time period. Read more by Alejandro Lazo of CalMatters.

• Hazardous waste stream: Although evacuation orders were lifted over the weekend for Los Angeles County and other parts of Southern California, officials are urging residents to remain alert as wet weather is still expected into early this week. Areas recently ravaged by wildfires, including the Eaton and Palisades fires in January, are particularly vulnerable to debris flows and mudslides because these fire-scarred regions have little vegetation to stabilize the ground. Described as a “flood on steroids” by one researcher, debris flow is a problem in Southern California, particularly because of the area’s steep topography. Read more by Rachel Becker of CalMatters.

Building affordable housing on the California coast should get a little easier after the California Coastal Commission voted earlier this month to extend the time frame for projects to be built – a decision that highlights a change in residential construction among the little-known but significant government body.

As CalMatters’ Nadia Lathan explains, the commission was created in the 1970s to oversee the protection of California’s 800 miles of coastline, including its natural habitats and public beach access. Many housing advocates and Democrats say the state agency is blocking affordable housing development in coastal California.

This year, Gov. Gavin Newsom, a critic of the commission’s broad powers, and speaker of the assembly Robert RivasDemocrat from Salinas, appointed three local pro-development officials to the agency.

The agency also this year worked with housing activists to promote student housing in coastal cities and did not oppose a housing reform law that exempts most new developments from environmental review.

Read more here.

Could California see a single-payer health plan that covers medical costs for everyone? One Democratic gubernatorial candidate floated the idea at a recent forum on health care issues affecting California. But another candidate criticized the plan as unrealistic. Find out what policies the candidates are pushing and more from CalMatters’ Ana B. Ybarra.