Kate Green, representing the Home for All Continuum of Care, warned the Peoria County Health Committee that changes in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program competition could sharply reduce renewal funding for local supportive housing projects.

"Historically, it's been 90% of our renewal cost. This year, it's down to just 30% of that renewal cost," Green said, describing the new funding tier and the effect on the region's annual renewal demand. She said the CoC's annual renewal demand to fully fund existing projects is just under $2.3 million, while the new cap for permanent housing allocations is under $690,000 — a gap of roughly $1.35 million.

Green said the cut could reduce about 250 permanent housing units funded through HUD and other state supports across Peoria, Tazewell, Woodford and Fulton Counties, noting the system already has more than 500 emergency shelter beds and locally funded units and more than 800 households on the waiting list for permanent housing resources.

She said HUD's scoring methodology also complicates the region's position: increased point‑in‑time counts — a product of improved outreach in rural areas — can be interpreted by HUD as a worsening of system performance and reduce competitive points, while other positive performance metrics have been scaled back in the current competition.

Committee members asked for the presentation slides and for clarification about which data HUD uses; Green said HUD looks at trends over several years and multiple performance metrics, not just a single night count.

Green urged advocacy and contingency planning for shelters and service providers, saying agencies are already near capacity and will need to modify programs ahead of the next grant cycle if the funding picture does not improve.