Nevada homelessness, housing crisis will only get worse under Trump budget plans, providers warn

Yahoo

19-05-2025

Trump and Republicans propose to reduce HUD's budget by more than 40% amid a national housing and homeless crisis. (Getty Images)
Federal spending cuts proposed by President Donald Trump, including $33 billion from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, would be devastating to Nevada, social services providers and local officials warn.
'Prior to these proposed cuts, our social safety net was not overly strong,' said Catrina Peters, the Homeless Services Coordinator with Washoe County. Cuts planned by the administration will 'reduce it to tatters.'
Trump's budget requests are shaping legislation in the works by House Republicans that will slash Medicaid and food assistance programs in Trump's 'big beautiful bill' Congress is trying, with some difficulty, to pass. Assuming the bill makes it out of the House, Senate Republicans will attempt to pass it through the budget reconciliation process, which allows them to approve the bill with only a simple majority and circumvent Senate filibuster rules.
The proposal would reduce HUD's budget by more than 40% amid a national housing and homeless crisis.
Many social service agencies and nonprofits, including HELP of Southern Nevada, rely on federal funding to supplement their budget and provide needed services.
HELP, one of the nonprofit organizations Clark County relies on to administer homeless support programs, receives roughly $10 million of its $30 million budget from HUD, said Fuilala Riley, the CEO of HELP of Southern Nevada.
The nonprofit has been able to use federal dollars to fund permanent supportive housing, which is subsidized for populations with significantly low or no income, such as folks experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, and comes with case management and wrap-around support services.
'This morning, 800 people woke up in a HELP of Southern Nevada program bed,' Riley said in an interview this month. 'Half of those individuals are funded by federal funds.'
For every one person that asked for assistance to be connected to a program, 'there's probably 10 other ones that are out in the community,' who need help, she said.
'The outlook is bleak because before we couldn't answer all the requests,' Riley said. 'Now we are facing a significant possibility that 30% of our funding will go away.'
The list of proposed cuts to HUD funding nationally includes a $532 million decrease in homeless assistance programs and a consolidation of several grants, like those provided by the federal Continuum of Care program that states use to address homelessness.
Clark County received about $21 million in funding from the Continuum of Care program in 2024 while Washoe County is allocated roughly $3.2 million.
Last year Clark County directed funding from the Continuum of Care program to support permanent supportive housing programs, rapid rehousing programs and transitional housing beds provided by the Clark County Social Service Dept. as well as nonprofits, including HELP of Southern Nevada, St. Jude's Ranch for Children, Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth and Safe Nest.
Riley said HELP received about $7 million last fiscal year specifically from the Continuum of Care program. 'There's no way I can backstop $7 million in private funding on an ongoing basis' if she were to lose it or have it drastically reduced, she said.
Peters said in Washoe County the majority of the funding is used by agencies to provide rental assistance and supportive services for people experiencing homelessness.
The curtailment of vouchers for renters in particular 'would have an absolutely devastating impact,' Peters said.
The federal budget proposed by Trump would also reduce the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, which provides state and local governments with funding to expand the supply of housing, by $1.2 billion, and cut $196 million from programs to help housing assistance recipients become more self-sufficient.
Clark County allocated about $9 million in HOME funds it received last year to 'support the development or rehab 1,018 affordable housing units across the county.'
Federal funding directed to nonprofits works in coordination with the resources they provide to create a fragile ecosystem.
Organizations and providers get allocated federal funding and use it to address specific programs or problems in the community.
If HELP, for example, doesn't offer a particular resource or service, it will refer to another nonprofit that does.
'When you start pulling out the blocks, it's like playing Jenga,' Peters said. 'Eventually it's going to topple over. That's a concern for all.'
Trump's budget request would also slash public housing assistance such as Housing Choice Vouchers, formerly known as Section 8.
While Washoe County isn't the only entity that allocates housing vouchers, Peters said starting in 2021 the county received 137 emergency housing vouchers designed specifically to pay rent for people and families at risk or experiencing homelessness.
The program could also be at risk if the proposed cuts go through as currently written.
'All the people in that program were previously experiencing homelessness,' Peters said. 'The vast majority of those folks would return to homelessness if it were not for these voucher resources.'
Federal funding provided in pandemic relief legislation helped governments and nonprofits alike keep people housed, offer food assistance, and keep the safety net from collapsing. Now those funding streams are all but dried up.
And even that funding could only go so far to stabilize people.
Rents across Nevada, as in much of the country, have skyrocketed and the state has a shortage of affordable and available housing.
Combine increased rents with other rising costs of living, and '$12 and $14 an hour, that doesn't cut it,' Riley said.
More than 10,100 people experienced homelessness in Nevada in 2024 – a 17% increase statewide – according to data released by HUD in December.
'If these proposed cuts go through, it's going to be very difficult to sustain' the work that's being done to help unhoused people, Peters said. 'I think we're going to see a huge influx in the number of people experiencing homelessness.'
Close to a third of all state government spending in Nevada is made possible by federal funding.
'It takes all the revenue streams of public and private dollars to meet the needs of our community,' said Sam Rudd, President and CEO of United Way of Southern Nevada.
'It's a very daunting reality.'
There are a lot of factors that make it 'impossible to specifically state' the impact of federal cuts 'without knowing what the final decisions are from the state support,' Rudd said in an interview.
'Many times there are federal cuts that then get stopped or are in legal battles and there is a lot of unknown,' he said.
While it might be hard to quantify the impact, there is no doubt that everyone in the community will feel the cuts.
'A lot of people see a headline, read an article and think that doesn't impact me,' Rudd said. 'But it does impact this community and it will begin to create a potential unraveling of issues I don't know we can quantify.'
Nonprofits have already had some funding sources paused, including $1.2 million in Emergency Food and Shelter funds, which helps supplement various existing programs, Rudd said.
'That's going to impact about 125,000 Clark County residents in that specific area,' he said. 'They've already felt that impact. The funding was supposed to come through April … Not only are they not getting reimbursed for funds spent earlier this year, nonprofits have to put a hold on future expenditures' that would have been paid with that money.
While HELP has yet to suffer funding cuts directly, 'we all understand the impact of the trickle effect of all these changes, including potential state challenges, and how the needs of our community are going to increase which will then trickle into other services,' Rudd said.
The proposed federal cuts come amid projections of a slowing economy that prompted Nevada budget analysts to reduce the state's revenue outlook over the next two fiscal years by $191 million.
Need for eviction assistance 'is only going to get greater,' state lawmaker warns
Along with federal funds, municipalities and nonprofits have relied on state funds to provide resources, including rental assistance to prevent evictions.
State lawmakers allocated $18 million in rental assistance in 2023 to Clark County and Reno to help continue eviction diversion programs set up during the pandemic.
Assembly Bill 475 seeks to appropriate $25 million in eviction diversion rental assistance funds — $18 million to Clark County and $7 million to Reno.
It has yet to be voted on but has been declared exempt from legislative deadlines.
'So many folks in our community have a broken down car or a major medical expense from not being able to make rent and being evicted,' Peters said. 'Unfortunately most of those folks we see in our emergency shelter system and we would love to be able to provide more proactive solutions like providing rental assistance to keep people stably housed.'
Even if people don't feel the impact of reduced state and federal funding that addresses homelessness, Riley said they'll see it in the form of 'an increase in the visibly unhoused.'
Federal funding to support housing and homelessness programs works in concert with other types of non-housing related federal resources, Riley said.
As examples, she pointed to weatherization and energy saving programs, which rely on federal funding, including from the Department of Energy.
HELP will use those dollars to help extremely low income seniors or households with children to modernize or fix homes to make them more energy efficient. Riley said it is a far less costly practice than moving households to places that are more energy efficient.
'If they lose their home, (seniors) are not going to be able to afford the market rate,' she said. 'Then comes hundreds of households a year that are going to be affected. Weatherization is no longer just an energy conversation, it's a prevention'
The proposed cuts to Medicaid could also have a sizable impact on people receiving housing and homeless assistance, Peters said.
'Many of the folks we serve are able to access medical, behavioral health and mental health services through Medicaid coverage,' she said. 'If that is reduced, folks can't obtain that care, which is critical.'
For people receiving housing assistance, help to weatherize homes to be more energy efficient, and food assistance, they could face yet another blow to their fragile support system if they are also kicked off Medicaid, Riley said.
'How many more whammies … can they take?'