Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement after U.S. District Judge David O. Carter temporarily blocked the Trump Administration from suspending the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) from federal homelessness grant programs, protecting approximately $241 million in dedicated federal funding as well as immediate future funds supporting programs that serve more than 11,000 people.

“In the face of the Trump Administration’s continued attacks toward people experiencing homelessness, I am glad to see Judge Carter demonstrate some humanity. Los Angeles is on the front lines of America’s homelessness crisis and continues to confront it head on, with nearly 73,000 people experiencing homelessness on any night across Los Angeles County. Instead of working side by side to address this crisis, the Trump Administration’s response was to jeopardize hundreds of millions of dollars and cut off critical services for more than 11,000 people in dire need of assistance, with no real plan for what would happen to them next.

Of course, none of this should surprise us. Time and time again, Donald Trump has made it painfully clear that he doesn’t give a damn about solving America’s affordable housing and homelessness crisis. Since returning to office, he wasted no time attacking the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the programs millions of Americans depend on. And more recently, when Democrats and Republicans in Congress handed him the most significant housing legislation in decades—and frankly an easy win—he threw a tantrum and refused to sign it. Thankfully, we did not need him. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became law anyway.

While I commend this decision, a judge should never have to stop the President of the United States from making our nation’s homelessness crisis worse. This ruling is a reprieve, not a solution. Americans need affordable homes, stable housing, and a federal government that actually cares whether they have a roof over their heads.

Unlike Donald Trump, Democrats are not sitting around waiting for this crisis to get worse nor are we actively fueling it. While he told us himself that “no one gives a shit about housing,” I introduced the Ending Homelessness Act to make the investments necessary to move people off the streets and into safe, stable, affordable homes. And just as I worked across the aisle to get the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act across the finish line, I will continue fighting for real solutions. Trump can keep trying to tear down the programs Americans depend on. Democrats will keep building them back stronger.”

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