Tyler Clancy, a public figure engaged in homelessness policy discussions, recently shared several posts on X (formerly Twitter) discussing the impact of federal Housing First policies. On December 12, 2025, Clancy addressed changes to federal housing regulations and their effects on homelessness programs.
Clancy wrote, “I’ve heard this similar refrain several times over the past couple of weeks – but it’s missing some context.
Housing First became a federal RULE from HUD that disqualified programs that had any engagement requirements.
This morphed HF into literally “Housing Only”. https://t.co/371noQVsqp” (December 12, 2025).
In a subsequent post the same day, Clancy continued: “This rule change defunded successful programs like @SteebMichele ‘s in California.
From a philosophical context Housing First means housing + voluntarily services. However, the practical reality is much different.” (December 12, 2025).
He also referenced users @Twolfrecovery, @SteebMichele, and @savagecitizens in another brief post on December 12.
The Housing First model was adopted as a primary strategy by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to address homelessness. This approach prioritizes providing permanent housing to people experiencing homelessness without preconditions such as sobriety or participation in treatment programs. In practice, when HUD made adherence to Housing First principles a requirement for funding eligibility, many programs with engagement or service participation requirements became ineligible for federal support. As a result, some established local initiatives lost funding despite prior successes.
