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The federal government’s expected $8 million cut to Cambridge’s housing funding, a decision that could displace our neighbors and deepen an already bleak affordable housing landscape, is not just shortsighted — it is unconscionable. As staff members of PBHA’s Harvard Square Homeless Shelter and Youth2Youth Harvard Square Shelter, and concerned citizens, we feel obligated to write on this impending loss.

The announcement of the expected $8 million dollar cut comes after a series of troubling policy changes in recent years to restrict the options of those experiencing homelessness for long-term housing, including the undermining of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule and an executive order attacking Housing First policies that prioritizes rehousing without additional stipulations for those experiencing homelessness. Each of these actions is as upsetting as it is concerning in regard to the state of supportive and affordable housing, as well as the welfare of unhoused people in the U.S., who number nearly 770,000 according to one estimate. The new cuts — which Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang ’05 has said could displace between 250-300 households in transitional and supportive housing units unless the deficit is made up — will strip people of housing, opportunities, and lives they have worked hard to secure.

In the Greater Boston area, people experiencing homelessness are subject to discriminatory practices that prevent their complete inclusion in society. We have seen guests at HSHS and Y2Y be denied employment because they lack a permanent address, lose important documents such as IDs and birth certificates when they were wrongfully evicted from public spaces, and endure deep layers of stigma on all societal levels. For Y2Y’s guests, young adults between the ages of 18 and 24, these practices can be particularly damaging as they enter adulthood and develop their identities without full resources and support.

Because of these discriminatory and structural barriers, our guests often stay with HSHS and Y2Y for several seasons during their search for housing. Throughout this period, they often have or are looking for jobs and are on all eligible housing lists, working proactively to better their chances for securing long-term stability.

Stripping funding for preexiting units already in high demand will not only push people out of their homes and significantly reduce access to housing, but also worsen the structural barriers that our shelters and others in the Greater Boston community work to relieve.

The cuts to funding for transitional housing is dehumanizing — it treats the wellbeing of the unhoused in its policy as an immaterial collateral effect. Stripping people of one of few viable housing options is not only exceptionally cruel, but it will also exacerbate the affordable housing crisis— an issue the current administration claims to be committed to solving.

In Cambridge, we see first-hand the extent of this crisis. Waitlists for our shelters regularly reach the hundreds. We witness on a daily basis the dire need for support, stability, and help in reaching long-term housing goals. This defunding will lead to greater stress on already strained resources for those experiencing homelessness, with no planned expansion of support in response to the incumbent loss.

The projected $8 million dollar decrease in federal housing funding for Cambridge goes against every value we aim to uphold within HSHS and Y2Y and will directly impact Cambridge residents. The collective failure to acknowledge, support, and defend the rights and access to housing of local unhoused populations is indefensible. Elected officials should void the Notice of Funding Opportunity, local politicians should preserve funding for transitional housing and the Continuum of Care in any way they can, and the local community should get involved, whether that be donating time or money to partners of Cambridge’s Continuum of Care or contacting local governance to vocalize their dissent.

Unhoused people, and those who have experienced homelessness, are a real part of our community. We have an obligation to support and defend their access to housing, even more so when it comes so callously under attack.

Carlos Sevilla ’27 is the Guest Advocacy Director at the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter. Sophie S. Goodman ’26 is the Community Engagement Director at the Youth2Youth Harvard Square Shelter.