HUD’s green retrofit program funds must be unfrozen, judge rules

Following a move by the Trump administration to axe a property retrofit program that prioritized green energy and climate resilience, a federal judge has ruled that its funding must be unfrozen and resumed.

In a bulletin published this week, nonprofit aging services association LeadingAge detailed that U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island issued a temporary injunction “against the Trump administration’s freeze on awards to multifamily affordable housing providers through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Green and Resilient Retrofit Program (GRRP).”

More broadly, the injunction impacts freezes handed down to several federal agencies over funding put in place by the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. These were signature pieces of legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden.

The freezes stemmed from a day one executive order signed by President Donald Trump, alongside an accompanying memo from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). They directed a pause on funding from these acts, even though they had been approved through the congressional appropriations process.

LeadingAge pursued an advocacy campaign with HUD, congressional offices and media organizations as it attempted to have the funding resumed. It said that as many as 50 of its affiliate organizations received funding from these pieces of legislation.

“Agencies do not have unlimited authority to further a president’s agenda, nor do they have unfettered power to hamstring in perpetuity two statutes passed by Congress during the previous administration,” McElroy said in her the ruling.

She went on to prohibit federal agencies from “freezing, halting, or pausing […] the processing and payment of funding that (1) was appropriated under the Inflation Reduction Act or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and (2) has already been awarded.”

Shortly after the 2024 presidential election, the Biden administration announced the final round of GRRP grant funding, bringing the total amount intended for recipients to $1.43 billion.

At the time, the administration described this as a “winding down” of the program, with the final round of $30 million in awards intended for 45 properties across 23 states.

The program has funded retrofitting projects for nearly 25,000 housing units across the country. While it has not necessarily expanded affordable housing stock, advocates say it plays a critical role in property preservation and resiliency, particularly as the nation has been rocked by an accelerating trend of natural disasters.

The injunction is in effect while the broader court case is being deliberated, according to a review of the court filing.