Following a preliminary ruling by a federal judge, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has restarted processing awards made under the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP). Around 50 LeadingAge members were awarded significant funding amounts through the GRRP, a congressionally established program that supports critical rehab at affordable housing properties located in climate-vulnerable areas.

After legally obligating the grant funding over the past two years, HUD abruptly and arbitrarily halted the program early in the new administration, following guidance from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget.

LeadingAge has over the past two months strongly advocated for the funds release. “Each day of funding uncertainty increases the odds that deals will disintegrate,” LeadingAge’s Linda Couch told the Associated Press on March 12;  to NPR.org in early April she explained: “The first tenet of any housing advocate is to preserve what we have.”

On April 14, a federal judge for the District of Rhode Island ruled that a lawsuit challenging HUD’s program freeze was likely to succeed and granted immediate relief nationwide while the lawsuit continues to play out. The judge ordered HUD and other agencies to restart both processing and disbursements for the GRRP and similar, climate-related programs.

Three LeadingAge members have reported hearing from HUD on next steps for resuming award processing as of April 25.

However, restarting the program will likely take additional steps because the agency terminated the contract for administering the program. HUD has told some awardees to await further instruction. LeadingAge is thrilled with this development and will continue advocating with HUD to immediately restart the critical preservation program.

Stay tuned as we monitor HUD’s actions to restart GRRP processing, as well as any action by the federal government to request a stay of the judge’s order. More info here.

Keep up on this and related developments via our EO Compliance, Funding Freeze and DOGE Updates serial post.