Prevent Homelessness Act of 2025

This bill would create a Housing Stabilization Fund at HUD to give short‑term emergency help that keeps people in their homes. Money would go out as yearly grants to local “continuums of care” that run approved emergency housing programs. These programs would serve extremely low‑income and very low‑income renters and homeowners facing a sudden hardship and would coordinate with local homelessness systems.

Help could cover upcoming rent, back rent, mortgage payments (including past due), utilities, basic home repairs, counseling and treatment services, housing counseling, legal help with eviction or foreclosure, security deposits, and other short‑term costs that improve housing stability, like gas, groceries, car repair, public transit, furniture, application fees, and reunification services. Rent or mortgage help is capped at a total of 8 months in any 12‑month period, and rent help can’t be above a reasonable local amount.

• Who is eligible: Extremely low‑income and very low‑income families who can’t meet housing costs due to a financial hardship and can show proof (like past‑due or eviction notices), with flexibility if those notices aren’t available. Programs must align with local homeless priority systems.
• How grants are distributed: In 2027, funds are allocated by formula; after that, 80% by formula and 20% by competition. The formula considers how many extremely low‑ and very low‑income people live in the area, including unsheltered people with heavy housing cost burdens, using the most recent point‑in‑time count. The competition rewards targeting the lowest‑income households, leveraging non‑federal funds, preventing homelessness, and problem‑solving approaches that connect people to other benefits.
• Funding level and timing: Authorized at $100 million per year from 2027 through 2031, and available only if Congress provides the money in future appropriations .