On December 23, 2025, U.S. District Judge Mary S. McElroy for the District of Rhode Island issued a preliminary injunction in the case National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) vs United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  In the preliminary injunction Judge McElroy:

• Rejected the November 2025 CoC NOFO and temporarily halted HUD’s use of the December 2025 CoC NOFO;

• Halted HUD’s cancelation of the original FY24-25 NOFO; and

• Ordered HUD to take all steps necessary to process eligible renewals for FY 2025 under the terms of the FY24-25 NOFO but excluding the obligation of funding and the granting of any specific renewals.

In response to the Court’s order, HUD sent out a notice on January 8, 2026 announcing that they would reopen the esnaps application portal on January 9th for CoC’s to submit new project applications to be funded through the reallocation of eligible CoC renewal grants or replacement of eligible YHDP renewal grants. The deadline for submitting applications is February 9, 2026.

​

Also on January 9th, Homeward emailed current CoC and YHDP grantees asking them to confirm if they still planned to renew the grants listed in their June 20, 2025 Letter of Interest.  All grantees intend to renew their existing grants so the Polk County/Des Moines CoC will not be reallocating any CoC grants or replacing any YHDP grants in the FY 2025 CoC competition.

​

On January 26th, HUD issued a notice describing the process CoCs may take to notify them of CoC and YHDP grants that will be renewed in FY 2025.  As noted in the Notice, “This will allow HUD, to the extent practical, to begin processing these applications before the February 9, 2026 deadline” which will include making adjustments based on current Fair Market Rents and by applying a Cost-of-Living Adjustment.. Currently, Homeward is working with the City of Des Moines on drafting and submitting to HUD email communication confirming the intent of the Polk County/Des Moines CoC to renew all existing CoC and YHDP grants.

​

Since January 14th, lawyers for NAEH and HUD have been laying out their arguments to the Court through a series of motions and responses to each other’s motions which is scheduled to end on February 5th.  At that time, Judge McElroy will begin her review process that will lead to a final judgement.  It’s unclear how long it will take for Judge McElroy to make her ruling though it is expected to occur expeditiously.