Boston Housing Officials Warn Federal Cuts Threaten $97 Million in HUD Grants

BOSTON -- May 19, 2025, Boston housing officials warned a 40 percent federal cut could end voucher assistance for nearly 8,000 households. At a May 19 Ways and Means Committee hearing, Mayor's Office of Housing Chief Sheila Dillon and Boston Housing Authority Administrator Kenzie Bach presented the agency's proposed FY26 operating budget of $52.1 million, a $3.5 million decrease from FY25, while flagging that the president's skinny budget framework threatens to eliminate CDBG and HOME grant programs and cut homeless assistance grants, jeopardizing more than $97 million in anticipated HUD funding. Bach said BHA's 18,000 federal voucher households could lose 7,900 of those placements, affecting nearly 11,000 children, if the cuts take effect. Advocates at the hearing called for a $4 million increase to the city's $12.75 million voucher program and a $7 million budget line item for the Acquisition Opportunity Program. Committee Chair Brian Worrell also noted that the Access to Counsel eviction-prevention pilot, which has served 70 families in three months on $300,000, is not currently included in the proposed budget.