<p>For thousands of families across America, the difference between keeping a home and losing one often comes down to a single conversation.</p><p>A housing counselor can help a homeowner avoid foreclosure after a job loss, help a first-time buyer learn how to navigate the mortgage process without falling prey to predatory terms and help a renter facing eviction discover options that keep a family from becoming homeless.</p><p>These services are not political; they are practical. In many cases, they are a lifeline.</p><p>The Trump administration wants to sever that lifeline by withholding more than $56 million in congressionally approved housing counseling funds. The National Urban League and nine other nonprofit organizations have gone to federal court to challenge the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's order.</p><div class="RichTextSidebarModule Enhancement" data-module data-align-floatRight><a class="AnchorLink" id="module-170000" name="module-170000"></a>
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</div><p>Last week, a federal judge recognized the gravity of the situation. Rather than allow the funding to disappear at the end of the fiscal year while the case is litigated, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/real-estate/2026/10/01/housing-action-illinois-sues-hud-trump-administration-nonprofit-radical-left-ngo" >ordered</a> that the Sept. 30 deadline be suspended, preserving the funds until the court can decide whether the administration's actions were lawful. The court held that allowing the funding to lapse could deprive plaintiffs of any meaningful relief and maintained the status quo while the legal challenge proceeds.</p><p>The decision is not a final victory. But it was an important acknowledgment that the stakes are too high to permit the Trump administration to snatch away these resources before the courts have an opportunity to review its conduct.</p><p>Congress created the Comprehensive Housing Counseling program to help Americans seek, finance, maintain, rent and own homes and to assist homeowners facing foreclosure or homelessness. For decades, organizations across the nation have relied on these funds to provide trusted, community-based guidance for families making some of the most consequential financial decisions of their lives. The administration's proposed rescission would eliminate nearly all of the funding Congress appropriated for the program.</p><p>At a time when housing affordability has become one of the defining economic challenges of our era, that makes no sense.</p><p>In Chicago, families feel the pressure every day. Rent consumes ever-larger shares of household income. Homeownership remains out of reach for too many working families. Black families continue to face persistent racial gaps in wealth and homeownership that are the direct result of generations of discriminatory policies. Across the country, Americans are struggling with rising costs, higher borrowing expenses, and financial uncertainty.</p><p>We need more housing counseling, not less.</p><p>Yet the administration has sought to justify these cuts by portraying grant recipients as ideological adversaries rather than community service providers. According to our lawsuit, White House officials publicly described housing counseling grantees as organizations with "DEI-centric discriminatory agendas" and used related rhetoric to support the proposed funding rescission. Our complaint argues that the government targeted recipients based on viewpoints and speech protected by the First Amendment.</p><p>The Constitution does not permit presidents to punish organizations because they disagree with their views. Nor does it allow the executive branch to withhold funding that Congress lawfully appropriated simply because political leaders find certain recipients inconvenient or disagreeable.</p><p>This case is about a fundamental constitutional principle as much as it is about housing.</p><p>Congress controls federal spending. The First Amendment protects free expression. Neither protection disappears when an administration encounters criticism.</p><p>When government officials begin deciding which organizations deserve funding based on whether they are politically agreeable, they are not merely threatening individual nonprofits. They are threatening the independence of civil society itself.</p><p>The National Urban League's interest in this case is straightforward. We work every day to expand economic opportunity and help families achieve financial stability. Housing remains one of the most important pathways to wealth creation in America. For many families, homeownership is the principal asset transferred from one generation to the next. It is a foundation for educational attainment, neighborhood stability and economic security.</p><p>Housing counseling helps make that pathway possible.</p><p>A first-time homebuyer who receives sound guidance is more likely to make informed financial decisions. A homeowner struggling through temporary hardship may avoid foreclosure and preserve years of accumulated equity. A renter facing instability may find resources that prevent displacement. These services are effective precisely because they are local, practical and rooted in trusted community institutions.</p><h3>Cautious optimism</h3><p>Stripping away those services will not lower housing costs. It will not increase affordability. It will not help families achieve the American Dream.</p><p>It will only make a difficult situation worse.</p><p>The court's order gives Americans reason for cautious optimism. By preserving the funds while the legal challenge proceeds, the judge ensured that the administration cannot run out the clock and eliminate these resources before the courts assess the legality of its actions. The merits of the case remain to be decided, but the opportunity for justice remains intact.</p><p>In the months ahead, the legal arguments will unfold in court. But the broader question is: What kind of country do we want to be?</p><p>One where struggling families receive the support they need to keep a roof over their heads and pursue homeownership? Or one where access to public services depends upon political ideology and loyalty to the current holder of the Oval Office?</p><p>Housing counseling is not a political favor. It is a public investment authorized by Congress, relied upon by communities, and essential to helping families build stable futures.</p><p>The court has pressed pause. It’s up to us whether we will continue investing in opportunity, stability and the promise of homeownership for every American.</p><p><a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/authors/marc-h-morial" target="_blank" ><i>Marc H. Morial</i></a><i> is president and CEO of the National Urban League</i> <i>and</i> <i>was mayor of New Orleans from 1994 to 2002.</i></p><div class="RichTextSidebarModule Enhancement" data-module data-align-center><a class="AnchorLink" id="module-ac0000" name="module-ac0000"></a>
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Housing counseling services are a public investment — not favors 2026
IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2026 2026-10-03 11:51:05
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