A program that provides emergency housing assistance to homeless people and other vulnerable populations will run out of money by the end of 2026, according to a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) letter sent in March to directors of public housing agencies.

Almost 60,000 people have current housing vouchers through HUD’s Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) program, according to a HUD dashboard. Those voucher recipients — which includes people experiencing homelessness and individuals fleeing domestic abuse and other forms of violence — would be at risk of losing their rent money if the EHV funding dries up.

The EHV program, created in 2021 as part of the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan Act, was appropriated $5 billion with the anticipation that the funding would last until 2030.

But the March HUD letter informed public housing agencies that they should manage their EHV programs in 2025 and 2026 “with the expectation that no additional funding from HUD will be forthcoming.” The letter indicated that the final EHV payments would be issued by HUD in late April.

The letter did not indicate that the funding shortfall is due to budget cuts, and the program could be extended if Congress decides to allocate additional funding. That seems unlikely, however, as The New York Times reported last week that the Trump administration is considering sending proposals to Congress that would slash funding to federal housing programs, including Section 8 housing vouchers for low-income households.

A report released by Zillow in early April indicated that there are already far more people who qualify for housing vouchers than there are vouchers available. According to Zillow, severely rent-burdened households that spend more than 50% of their income on rent outnumber available vouchers by a 4 to 1 ratio.