Judge blocks Trump admin from pulling San Francisco housing funds over anti-DEI rules

Source: Politico

05/08/2025 03:02 PM EDT


SAN FRANCISCO — A U.S. District Court judge has granted a temporary restraining order to a coalition of local governments that sued the Trump administration last week over new strings attached to federal homelessness grants. San Francisco officials argued that nearly 2,000 people in the Bay Area city alone could face eviction if they lost their subsidies from the federal funding.

The order temporarily blocks the Trump administration from revoking grant money over new requirements related to DEI, immigration enforcement, abortion and “gender ideology” it added to Department of Housing and Urban Development funding. Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein, of the Western District of Washington state, issued the order, concluding that the grant rules likely violate the “separation of powers doctrine” by imposing requirements “that were not approved by Congress and are not closely related to the purposes of the grants and the programs they fund.”

Local governments behind the lawsuit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle, argued HUD lacks the authority to attach such strings to federal grants without congressional approval. The coalition also includes Santa Clara County, two counties in Washington state, Boston, New York City and Columbus, Ohio. San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu said Thursday the city was relieved by the temporary order.

The city receives more than $50 million dollars annually from HUD, funding that mostly goes toward rental assistance and supportive services to house chronically homeless residents.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/08/trump-san-francisco-housing-dei-00336454