May 9, 2025
At a time when California’s housing crisis is pushing hundreds of thousands into poverty or homelessness, President Donald Trump has proposed a budget that would gut one of the few lifelines available to low-income renters: federal rental assistance.
If enacted, Trump’s 2026 budget proposal would slash funding for critical housing programs—including the Section 8 voucher system and public housing—by 43%.
These cuts would disproportionately harm the very people already struggling the most: low-wage workers, seniors, people with disabilities, and families barely clinging to housing in one of the most expensive states in the country.
Trump’s budget plan brands federal housing programs as “dysfunctional” and offers states more flexibility to redesign them through block grants. But flexibility is not the issue—adequate funding is. California alone is home to more than 560,000 households that rely on some form of federal rental assistance, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.