NYC Housing Partnership: Trump HUD cuts dim prospects of first time homebuyers

Manhattan, NY The Trump Administration’s recent decision to rescind $56 million in funding for Housing Counseling Grants means that “prospective first-time homebuyers will have a much harder time purchasing homes. Cutting HUD Housing Counseling Grants reduces their access to the one-on-one counseling that helps them navigate an increasingly complex real estate market and challenging mortgage application process,” said Molly Wasow Park, president and CEO of the nonprofit NYC Housing Partnership.

“Withholding these funds means fewer moderate-income households will be able to achieve the American Dream of homeownership. Their access to federal financial support for down payments and closing costs, and to the home purchase counseling required to qualify will be reduced when HUD misses this Wednesday’s deadline for Congressionally allocated payments to affordable housing organizations,” Park said.

The $56 million for this HUD program was appropriated by Congress, but the White House revealed last week that it would not allocate these funds. This effectively ends the HUD Housing Counseling Support Grants for NGOs that provide housing counseling.

President Trump complained the HUD program supports DEI initiatives he opposes.

“The NYC Housing Partnership’s first-time homebuyers’ counseling program is a quantifiable success. It builds long-term financial stability and enables intergenerational wealth creation through homeownership,” said Park.

“More than 400 New Yorkers who completed our program purchased their first home. They qualified for over $5 million in financial support that they leveraged for down payments and closing costs,” she said.

Nationally, HUD grants helped almost 35,000 families become homeowners in 2024, according to the latest available data.

“Not-for-profit organizations around the country have leveraged this relatively modest infusion of federal funds by providing one-on-one counseling to more than 250,000 households annually,’ said Park of the NYC Housing Partnership.

For more than 40 years the nonprofit NYC Housing Partnership has helped expand access to affordable housing across New York City and beyond through innovative public-private partnerships resulting in the creation and preservation of 100,000 low and moderate-income housing units leveraging over $11.1 billion in private financing and utilizing more than $550 million in subsidies for affordable housing. Working with community partners, lenders, developers and public agencies, the Housing Partnership strives to ensure that safe and comfortable housing remains within reach for New Yorkers.