Formerly homeless people fear return to the streets under Trump

It has been a long while since I wrote an installment of my homeless hotel diary. I must admit, it doesn’t seem appropriate to complain about anything at a time when people experiencing homelessness could be facing a return to the streets.

President Trump, in his quest to slash the federal budget, wants to get rid of COVID-era assistance for housing people experiencing homelessness. There are other considerations, too. It’s all extremely complicated and it concerns formerly homeless people like me very much.

Every formerly homeless person’s worst nightmare is a return to the streets. The PTSD that comes along with the homeless experience doesn’t leave your psyche once housed. You’re always on high alert and fear the worst.

Expert on homelessness weighs in

I became so worried about whether I might lose my voucher that I reached out to Colorado Coalition for the Homeless spokesperson Cathy Alderman. I asked Cathy about these rumored cuts and wondered how it might impact Denver. In a statement, here’s what she said:

“The voucher program most immediately at risk is the Emergency Housing Voucher, or EHV, program which was authorized during COVID response through the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA,” according to Alderman. “It was targeted to people experiencing homelessness and survivors of domestic violence and was supposed to be funded through 2030. Like other housing vouchers, these vouchers ensure that an individual does not pay more than 30% of their income on monthly housing costs. Local Housing Authorities across the country have been told that the funding for these vouchers will now run out in 2026 due to the increase in rents and because the new administration does not believe we should be spending emergency response funds any longer since, in their view, the COVID crisis has passed. Colorado was awarded around 600 of these vouchers and so people who are on them will need to be transitioned to another resource by some time in 2026 when the funding runs out. CCH is currently only using about 14 of these types of vouchers with current clients and we are working to transition those folks to another resource if available.”

For people experiencing homelessness, the unwelcome news doesn’t stop there. In her statement, Alderman continued:

Budget cuts threaten housing vouchers

“The Trump budget and proposals in the GOP-led Congress to cut HUD’s budget by 43% will ultimately threaten other voucher programs. Currently there is a suggestion to consolidate all voucher programs into a single block grant program which is problematic and demonstrates a lack of understanding of how these programs work. Project-based vouchers, or PBVs, those that are attached to a unit of housing are a critical source of operational funding for affordable supportive housing because they help to ensure the long-term affordability of a particular project by keeping the units of housing locked in at fair market rent and requiring any prospective tenant who income-qualifies to pay no more than 30% of their income on rent. On the other hand, tenant-based vouchers, or TBVs allow a tenant to use the voucher at any rental unit that accepts the voucher while still ensuring that the tenant spends no more than 30% of their income on rent. If you tried to merge these two very distinct voucher programs, supportive housing developers would never (know) how to budget in PBVs for the operational costs of their projects because it wouldn’t be clear how many PBVs versus TBVs exist.”

It admittedly sounds complicated. I have confidence the state would try to fund housing programs for formerly homeless people before returning them to the street if federal money runs out. But I worry about the newly homeless, entering the system at a time when a budget hatchet-happy president takes swipes at America’s safety nets.Alderman continued in her statement:

“If these budget proposals pass, people will lose their vouchers in 2026. There is also a proposal that vouchers be time-limited to up to two years which will seriously limit the ability of people’s wages to catch up to the high rents being charged. We are very concerned about these proposals and are urging Congress to consider how much they will (be) contributing to a significant and dangerous increase in the number of people forced into homelessness if they pass these changes.”

‘Acting right’ not that easy

A lot of people who experience homelessness, including myself, suffer from chronic mental illness. I do very well on my medication, but if I were to go off it, hallucinations and delusions eventually would begin to haunt me. I struggle every day with my mood and mental health and have a long employment history, much of it with companies that were glad to see me go when I moved on. My mood instability never made for great office politics. My point is that to thrive I need make sure I have my medication and am surrounded by people who understand that mental illness is not just someone “acting out.” All these supports, from the medication delivered to my room every month, monthly visits by a nurse, quarterly visits from a doctor and weekly visits with a therapist are expensive solutions that I am blessed to receive as a tenant of Colorado Coalition for the Homeless on a permanent supportive housing voucher.

Admittedly, I’m glad I live in Colorado, where more compassionate policies prevail when it comes to people experiencing homelessness. At a time when homeless people already are despised and discriminated against by so many, now they must worry about losing the housing that saved their lives.