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What federal emergency or pandemic-era funds remained available for homelessness in 2025?
Executive summary
Federal pandemic-era homelessness and housing supports that remained available in 2025 included targeted K–12 ARP-HCY grants ($800 million originally allocated, with states required to spend allocations by Jan. 31, 2025) and various ARPA/ERAP rental-assistance pools that states were phasing down with some expirations set through September 2025; meanwhile major HUD continuity decisions and a 2025 NOFO signaled large federal program shifts that could reallocate roughly $3.9 billion previously directed to permanent housing [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]. Available sources do not provide a single consolidated list of “all remaining” pandemic-era funds for homelessness in 2025.
1. Pandemic K–12 homelessness dollars: a one-time ARP pot that largely expired in early 2025
Congress reserved $800 million from America Rescue Plan (ARP) ESSER funds for the Homeless Children and Youth program (ARP-HCY); states were required to commit and spend those allocations with deadlines that led most funds to lapse or be spent by January 31, 2025, and extensions were halted in March 2025 [1] [7] [2]. Reporting and research on how districts used ARP-HCY show the money expanded identification and supports for students experiencing homelessness during and after the pandemic, but those dollars were temporary and states were expected to have spent them by early 2025 [1] [2].
2. Rental assistance and ERAP/ARPA pools: ramping down toward mid‑/late‑2025 expirations
State and local programs built from pandemic emergency rental assistance (ERAP) and other ARPA housing resources continued to be drawn down in 2025 but many jurisdictions set explicit cutoffs tied to federal expiration dates. For example, North Dakota announced program ramp‑downs with application cutoffs in spring/summer 2025 and an anticipated end date of Sept. 15, 2025, intending to fully use remaining ARPA funds for eviction prevention until that date [3] [4]. Multiple local counts and reports link increases in homelessness to the end of COVID-era rental assistance funds, indicating those pandemic pools were being exhausted in 2025 [8].
3. HUD’s Continuum of Care and permanent supportive housing funding under pressure
The Continuum of Care (CoC) program — a longstanding HUD vehicle that funds permanent supportive housing, rapid rehousing, and transitional housing — was facing programmatic and funding uncertainty in 2025. Advocacy groups warned that many CoC awards expire between January and June 2026 and that funding shortfalls or re-scoring in new NOFOs could produce unpaid rents and service cuts; at the same time, HUD issued a November 2025 NOFO shifting money away from permanent supportive housing toward transitional programs [9] [6]. Analysts point out roughly 41% of permanent supportive housing beds rely on CoC funding (about 170,000 of ~412,000 beds in 2024), so any reallocation or lapse could materially reduce supports [6].
4. The $3.9 billion shift: policy overhaul with practical consequences
Reporting and agency commentary in 2025 described an administration-led overhaul reallocating about $3.9 billion that had been used to place people in permanent housing toward programs with work requirements, mandatory treatment, or encampment‑clearance support — a policy change framed by officials as promoting “self-sufficiency” but criticized by homelessness advocates as likely to disrupt stable housing for seniors, disabled people, and others [5] [10] [6]. Urban Institute and local outlets warned that cutting permanent supportive housing could leave many vulnerable people without long-term housing options and that some jurisdictions would see steep reductions in beds funded by CoC [6] [11].
5. Federal budget proposals and competing visions for sustaining homelessness funding
The president’s FY2025 budget materials and USICH framing contemplated increases (e.g., more than $10 billion proposed to help people already experiencing homelessness), arguing pandemic-era demonstrations showed prevention can work; however, implementation depends on Congressional action and does not substitute for exhausted ARP/ERAP timelines [12]. Meanwhile HUD statements and NOFOs from late 2025 emphasized administrative reform and reprioritization of funds — highlighting a clear policy contest between preservation/expansion of permanent supportive housing (prior bipartisan emphasis) and a move to transitional, conditional programs [13] [6].
6. What reporters and local officials were watching in 2025
Local governments and service providers were tracking three practical sources of remaining pandemic‑era funds: unspent ARPA/ERAP balances at the state/local level, any reprogrammings or “leftover” federal dollars through 2025, and school‑district ARP‑HCY expenditures or carryovers [11] [3] [7]. National organizations cautioned that with many CoC grants set to expire and federal priorities shifting in NOFOs, communities should prepare for gaps in rental assistance and permanent supportive housing funding that had prevented larger rises in homelessness during the pandemic [9] [6].
Limitations and unanswered items: available sources do not provide a comprehensive accounting of every remaining dollar by program or state for 2025, nor a single federal ledger of “remaining pandemic-era homelessness funds” beyond the program‑specific deadlines and reallocation notices cited above [1] [3] [9].