In Seattle, Murray Highlights $7.2 Billion Increase for HUD, Rejecting Trump’s Cuts

In the face of drastic cuts to funding and access pushed by President Trump, Murray led efforts to safeguard critical federal funding that underpins Washington state housing and homelessness safety nets

Murray not only protected key national housing and homelessness programs that are essential for Washington state, but also secured millions in Congressionally Directed Spending to build affordable housing and tackle homelessness across the state

ICYMI: Senator Murray Secures Hundreds of Millions for Transportation & Housing Projects Across WA in Final Appropriations Bills; Boosts Funding for Medical Research, Housing, Child Care & More

***AUDIO OF ROUNDTABLE HERE, PHOTOS AND B-ROLL HERE***

Seattle, WA — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, held a roundtable discussion with local housing providers and partners on the importance of lowering the cost of housing and the urgent need to address the homelessness crisis. Senator Murray highlighted how she secured an historic $7.2 billion increase for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), protected rental assistance and programs that tackle homelessness from drastic cuts by Trump, and secured millions of dollars for affordable housing projects across Seattle and King County.

Senator Murray was joined by Sharon Lee, Founder & Executive Director, Low Income Housing Institute; Iris Friday, Board Chair, Seattle Indian Services Commission; Colleen Echohawk-Hayashi, CEO, Community Roots Housing; Susan Boyd, CEO, Bellwether Housing; Derrick Belgarde, Executive Director, Chief Seattle Club; Paul Lwali, President & CEO, Friends of Youth; and Dan Strauss, Seattle City Council Member, District 6.

“If President Trump had his way in our funding bills, he would have zeroed out programs that help build affordable housing and spur community development. President Trump’s budget wanted to rip the Department of Housing and Urban Development in half, but I made sure we ripped his budget in half instead,” said Senator Murray. “I secured a $7.2 billion increase for HUD—protecting programs Trump tried to eliminate, and investing $4.1 billion more in rental assistance to help families. I also fought hard to secure funding for critical housing projects here in King County. The funds are going to support work on 38 affordable housing units for families in the foster system in Renton, 150 units of affordable housing through the Low-Income Housing Institute, 181 units through Bellwether Housing, 162 affordable housing units through the Seattle Indian Services Commission, another 500 through the City of Seattle’s Fort Lawton redevelopment project, as well as safety upgrades to retain 38 units of affordable housing for Community Roots Housing. All together, that’s over 1,000 units just in King County. There is much more work ahead to tackle the housing affordability and homelessness crisis. This is always top of mind for me, and I will continue doing everything I can in Congress to help folks keep a roof over their head.”

In the government funding bill Trump signed into law on February 3, 2026, Senator Murray secured a $4.1 billion—or 6 percent—increase in rental assistance programs and a $366 million increase in homeless assistance programs, while rejecting President Trump’s proposals to block-grant, and impose harmful work requirements and time limits on these critical programs that support over 10 million Americans. This includes:

1. $38.4 billion for tenant-based rental assistance—a $2.4 billion boost—to continue to serve more than 2.3 million very low- and extremely low-income households nationwide.
2. $18.5 billion for project-based rental assistance, an increase of $1.6 billion above last year’s funding level, to continue to house more than 1.3 million very low- and low-income households nationwide.
3. $4.4 billion for the Homeless Assistance Grants Program, a $366 million increase over fiscal year 2025. The bill includes $107 million in new funding to address youth homelessness and $52 million in new funding to support survivors of domestic violence.
4. New guardrails to protect Continuum of Care (CoC) grants from Trump administration sabotage. The legislation requires HUD to automatically renew Continuum of Care grants that are expiring in 2026 if HUD does not make awards for fiscal year 2025 funds by the beginning of each quarter in 2026. Washington state, alongside other states and nonprofits, has sued HUD over their delay in getting fiscal year 2025 grants out the door and the radical and illegal policy changes the Trump administration has tried to make to how these funds are distributed—moves that have jeopardized housing for hundreds of thousands of Americans and jobs at organizations who assist people experiencing homelessness. Senator Murray held a roundtable in Everett last year to discuss Trump’s threats to CoC grants and her efforts to fight back.
5. Funding and new flexibilities to continue supporting over 50,000 Emergency Housing Vouchers for people experiencing homelessness and fleeing domestic violence and human trafficking. This program faced a funding cliff that, if left unaddressed, would have cut 110,000 individuals off from housing assistance.
6. Maintained $1.25 billion for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, the largest federal block grant to states and local governments to expand the supply of affordable housing. President Trump and House Republicans tried to eliminate this program entirely.
7. Protected funding for the Community Development Block Grant Program and Native American Programs—important funding sources for state, local, and Tribal governments to carry out housing and economic development activities.
8. $156 million—a $16 million boost—for the Family Self-Sufficiency Program, to renew service coordinators that help Section 8 and public housing residents achieve self-sufficiency and economic independence. This program has been used by a number of housing authorities in Washington state to help families access services including job training, employment counseling, financial literacy, and homeownership counseling.

Senator Murray also secured $25.712 million in Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) for local affordable housing projects in communities across Washington state, and $15.9 million in Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) for local projects providing critical resources like childcare, affordable food, diapers and hygiene supplies, and housing services, including:

9. $3,000,000 for the Low Income Housing Institute for the construction of affordable, transit-oriented housing units. 
10. $1,500,000 for the Seattle Indian Services Commission for the construction of affordable housing, an early learning center, and a child care facility. 
11. $512,000 for Community Roots Housing for preservation and safety upgrades to affordable housing units.
12. $2,500,000 for Friends of Youth for the construction of new affordable housing units on their Griffin Campus in Renton to support foster families.
13. $1,800,000 for Bellwether Housing for construction of affordable housing units in Seattle.
14. $3,150,000 for the City of Seattle Office of Housing for the Fort Lawton Redevelopment project, including design of infrastructure and permitting work to support construction of affordable housing units and public parkland. 

Senator Murray has consistently worked to address Washington state’s housing affordability and homelessness crisis and has secured major federal investments to help families keep a roof over their heads. Throughout the pandemic, Senator Murray—then Assistant Majority Leader—played a major role in writing federal COVID-19 relief legislation that secured essential support for people facing housing insecurity, championing sizable investments in rental assistance and other programs that collectively resulted in the largest eviction prevention effort in American history. 

Last year, Senator Murray joined Democrats in warning how the Trump administration’s major staffing cuts at HUD will decimate the ability to deliver basic services and would further exacerbate the housing crisis and would likely prevent HUD from being able to meet critical functions like supporting disaster recovery efforts. In May, she held a roundtable in Everett to hear from local housing and homelessness prevention organizations affected by the Trump administration’s senseless decision to jeopardize Continuum of Care grant funding by placing new, potentially unlawful conditions on the grant funding. At a hearing in June, Senator Murray grilled HUD Secretary Scott Turner on Trump’s fiscal year 2026 budget request for HUD and its sweeping staff losses and funding freezes that are already hurting communities across the country. In September, Senator Murray called for an investigation into the HUD’s handling of the grant award process for the Continuum of Care (CoC) Builds program, after HUD notified the communities across the country that it was once again scrapping the grant application process it had just run—for the second time—and that it was now forcing organizations to apply for funding for a third time. And in November, Senator Murray led Democrats in a letter to Secretary Turner calling on him to immediately halt reported plans to make drastic changes to the Continuum of Care program, which could result in nearly 200,000 Americans being forced out of their housing and back into homelessness.

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