Community to feel the pain from the loss of funding in environmental justice and Sect. 8 vouchers
(on right) The series of recent and upcoming federal budget cuts will hit the most vulnerable the hardest, especially when it comes to housing. Illustration created by AI.
The first wave of official cuts arrived with the passage of the 119th Congress’ H.R.1, aka the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which was signed into law on July 4. Many vehemently disagree about the second b-word in the name, to them it’s more of a Big Bad Wolf Act, as it does the most damage to those less economically fortified, while it benefits the wealthiest.
More cuts were in the H.R.4 – Rescissions Act of 2025, which Congress approved by Trump’s July 4 deadline: he signed it on July 24.
There is one more package containing more cuts on its way this year: the federal budget for Fiscal Year 2026, which has an October 1 deadline.
There are a multitude of cuts the repercussions of which are immeasurable at present. The following is a focused look into some of the hurt that our community is feeling or is on the way.
Because of OBBBA, one long-time community hero, El Puente, lost $3M in grant funding from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for their environmental justice work. Fernando Sánchez, communications manager for El Puente, said they were notified they were pre-grantees in the fall of 2024, with the grant going into effect on January 1, 2025. Since January 2025 there has been silence from their contact at the EPA.
Sánchez, stated this money would enable “the organization to set up workshops, curriculum outreach, and educate the community on how to become part of community boards, or how to make the community more environmentally friendly, and monitor the BQE’s environmental impacts, among other invaluable work.”
This funding was part of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act, which was enacted in August of 2022 under the name change the Inflation Reduction Act. Even though this law was projected to cost $700B over ten years, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) calculated the package to result in a net decrease in the deficit totaling $90B over the 2022-2031 period.
OBBBA did away with many of the provisions in Biden’s bill, and it will majorly increase the country’s deficit according to CBO. The CBO’s updated projection (July 21, 2025) of how Trump’s OBBBA would affect the federal deficit is that it would increase the on-budget deficit by $3.4T over the next ten years (2025–2034).
OBBBA’s cuts have caused trickle-down cuts as due to their loss in funding, El Puente has had to lay off some staff and reduce services, which limits the amount of work they can do for the community. However, El Puente has 43 years of history fighting for the community, and they will fight for the organization. Next steps are active litigation: a class action against government as funding cuts are a larger trend that has afflicted other nonprofits. El Puente will also be seeking out small donors, community small donations, and other funding opportunities and grants.
El Puente will continue to hold their annual ¡WEPA! festival. This year it will land on September 27. For more info or to support El Puente, visit: https://www.elpuente.org/wepa2025
OBBBA may also have a negative impact on affordable housing. It’s inclusion of Opportunity Zones (OZs) could result in speculation and drive out long-time residents who in time can no longer afford the area where they have lived.
According to David Wessel’s piece published on July 8, 2025 on the Brookings Institution website, “the bill will sunset the current set of OZs at the end of 2026 and create a new set of zones beginning in January 2027.” He later says, “The bill also will narrow the eligibility criteria for OZs. The threshold for designating a tract as a “low-income community” falls from 80% of area or statewide median income to 70%.” And also, “[I]t doesn’t provide bigger tax breaks for investors in very poor communities. It doesn’t restrict the types of investments eligible for the OZ tax break: self-storage facilities, luxury condos, high-end student housing, pickleball courts, and gold vaults would still be eligible.”
Another looming cut in housing that will hurt the most vulnerable in the community is the elimination of Section 8. This is proposed in Trump’s budget for Fiscal Year 2026. At this time this budget aims to cut $33B from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and have the states take over Section 8. In this plan, Section 8 payments could be limited to two years for those who are able-bodied adults; in addition, there would be a work requirement for able-bodied adults. Also proposed are massive cuts to HUD’s low-interest loans and grants.
Frank Lang, St. Nicks Alliance’s deputy executive director for housing, said, “The lack of Section 8 vouchers, will impact existing residents with Sect 8 and inhibit the creation of new units and the preservation of existing units. New projects for the elderly or formerly homeless that depend on Section 8 subsidies may be delayed or changed — most of the new elderly housing is based on the ability of Section 8 to provide operating support.” He also mentioned that these budget cuts would cut staff in the city, state, and federal levels.
“Federal grant programs that would be cut (CDBG, HOME, HOPWA) fund a lot of NYC housing activities. NYC funds its home enforcement with CDBG and HOME, and that would result in fewer housing inspectors,” said Lang. He added that NYCHA funds will be severely cut, and, “NYC is going through, like most of the United States, a crisis of a lack of affordable housing. These cuts at HUD and other federal agencies will exacerbate that and will not address the problem.”
When you consider that OBBBA also cuts safety nets for those with lower incomes — such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid benefits — there will be more out-of-pocket costs that make it harder for them to pay other expenses like rent.
The Greenline 