A Crisis Within a Crisis: Disability, Housing, and the Cost of Being Locked Out Part 2

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has been working to find solutions–the Massachusetts State Independent Living Council has released their Accessible Affordable Housing Report for two years in a row. Here’s the 2025 report:
https://masilc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/A-Crisis-within-A-Crisis-Revisited-11.21.2025-.pdf

It contains statistics and stories from around Massachusetts about the accessible housing crisis within the larger affordable housing crisis. Using the Housing Navigator, a tool for finding affordable housing in MA, they were able to see the number of accessible, affordable homes and apartments across the state. However, most of these apartments are filled with people who need them already–looking at the Housing Navigator today, I can’t find any apartments currently open that are completely wheelchair accessible, not age restricted, and with rents based on income. This follows the 2024 Accessible Affordable Housing Report, which found only two units at the time of that search.

There is a dire need for more housing in the Commonwealth and across the country, as rates of homelessness increase, while disproportionately affecting people with disabilities. However, the federal government recently released a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) that promises to make these problems worse. Details noted below.

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Before we go any further, it’s important to say your advocacy is working. After general public outcry, and being sued by 21 states, the federal government rescinded the NOFO. We are awaiting its re-release, and expect that many of the issues at hand will remain in the new version. However, this is a great example of how pushback at the state and individual level is making a difference in policies that affect our friends and neighbors.

It’s become hard to find the NOFO itself, so I’m providing a link to the lawsuit:
https://www.mass.gov/doc/hud-complaint/download

Here are the details:

For a long time, we’ve been using a proven policy model called Housing First. It allows us to provide people who need housing a place to live, without conditions. It’s a departure from more conservative housing policies, which may require a person to be sober, or get a job, before giving them a place to live. We’ve found that, if given a home first, it’s easier for people to reach other goals, like employment. Our housing assistance programs also often have funds set aside for populations that disproportionately face homelessness, like people with disabilities, people of color, or LGBTQIA+ people.
This NOFO would slash funding to Housing First programs, leaving homeless many people who rely on that funding. It gives priority to: organizations that force people to comply with program guidelines to qualify for housing; organizations that enforce anti-homelessness laws; and religious organizations that may have their own agendas. It also favors organizations that engage in civil commitment and other means of institutionalization.

Furthermore, this NOFO directly attacks any organization, including homeless shelters, that currently accepts (or has in the past) transgender and gender-diverse individuals. Since transgender people face a disproportionately high rate of homelessness, many homelessness amelioration programs have specific language in their funding to direct funds towards making shelters safe and available for transgender individuals.
This stipulation not only rips care and housing from our transgender friends, but it implies that any organization that has ever appropriately cared for a transgender person could be rejected for funds. Along with the defunding of Housing First, this would cut funds for almost every successful agency that provides services to the homeless. It would be catastrophic for all people facing the specter of homelessness, especially as costs rise and housing scarcity continues.

What can we do?

Though it’s currently on pause as the lawsuit works its way through the courts, this NOFO is not gone.
The federal government will no doubt continue to attempt this and other cuts to the Housing First program. If you object to these actions, I encourage you to call your representatives at the state and federal levels!

Housing First programs get people into safe homes. Without preconditions, without judgment, and without discrimination, they put roofs over peoples’ heads. They have been a critical part of our social safety net for 20 years. The amount of pushback we have already seen on this NOFO is heartening, and it’s making an impact. Keep up the good work!

--Rachel Cowen, Systems Change Advocate