The National Association of Realtors is urging Congress to reject a White House budget proposal that would eliminate billions in federal housing programs, warning the cuts would undermine homeownership and fair housing access nationwide.
NAR President Kevin Brown wrote to Senate and House committees on April 30, calling on lawmakers to maintain funding for Housing Choice Vouchers, HOME Investment Partnerships, Community Development Block Grant and HUD’s fair housing and counseling programs.
“Federal housing programs are a critical part of the solution, and we must maintain and strengthen investments in them to help communities address the full spectrum of their needs,” Brown wrote.
What the budget proposes
President Donald Trump’s fiscal year 2027 budget request, submitted to Congress in April, proposes a $10.7 billion reduction in HUD funding, a 13 percent cut from the FY2026 enacted level, bringing the department’s total to $73.5 billion, according to White House budget documents.
The proposal would zero out both CDBG and HOME entirely. CDBG represented $3.3 billion in FY2026 funding; HOME was $1.25 billion, according to the National Association of Affordable Housing Lenders. The Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing program also faces elimination.
The Fair Housing Activities account faces a 70 percent cut. The proposal eliminates the Fair Housing Initiatives Program, which funds nonprofit fair housing enforcement organizations, while retaining the Fair Housing Assistance Program, which funds state and local government enforcement agencies. According to the National Fair Housing Alliance, FHIP-funded organizations handle nearly three-quarters of the country’s housing discrimination complaints, and at least 12 states have no FHAP-funded agencies of their own.
Not all HUD programs face cuts. Unlike last year’s proposal, the administration is not seeking to restructure major rental assistance programs into a block grant. The Housing Choice Voucher program is proposed for a modest increase, from $38.5 billion to $38.8 billion, according to Housing Finance.
Congress has been here before
Congress is not required to adopt the White House budget request and has a recent record of diverging from it on housing. In FY2026, lawmakers did not follow the prior year’s proposed HUD cuts and increased HUD’s overall funding, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Many of the programs proposed for elimination in FY2027 are the same ones Congress restored on a bipartisan basis months ago. CDBG, in particular, has survived multiple attempts to eliminate it by the Trump administration.
A unified push
NAR is not alone in its opposition. The Campaign for Housing and Community Development Funding, a coalition of 70 housing advocacy organizations, has also urged Congress to maintain full funding for federal housing programs, arguing they promote resident stability.
What comes next
Turner’s appearance before the House Appropriations Committee on Monday opens the formal congressional response to the FY2027 request. The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Subcommittee markup of the spending bill is expected on May 21, with a full committee markup scheduled on June 4, according to the NLIHC.
Fair housing compliance resources, down payment assistance pipelines for lower-income buyers and first-time homebuyer support programs all draw from the funding NAR is urging Congress to protect. The next six weeks could determine how much of it survives.
