The last time staffers at the Baltimore-based Health Care for the Homeless flicked off the lights at their previous downtown Baltimore headquarters and clinic in 2010, health care providers and government leaders had just started to embrace the idea that affordable, long-term housing offered an effective way to reduce homelessness.

The concept countered the belief at the time that mental health treatment and jobs were prerequisites to being housed.

Now, Health Care for the Homeless and its partners at the Episcopal Housing Corp. are transforming the site of their former offices into an affordable housing complex that will support several households as they transition out of homelessness — a full-circle moment for those who have watched the shift in ideology.

But there is one key holdout: President Donald Trump, whose administration has tried to shift resources away from long-term affordable housing programs, saying they fail to promote “treatment, recovery and self-sufficiency.” Instead, the administration favors ending federal support of “housing-first” policies for methods including involuntary commitment.

With Sojourner Place at Park — the name of the soon-to-be affordable housing development at Park Avenue — the two organizations are standing firm as Trump tries to reshape the nation’s stance on homelessness. Its 42 housing units will be locked in at affordable rates for 40 years, and 28 of the units will be reserved for permanent supportive housing — which combines reduced rent prices with support to help households manage everyday needs.

Caseworkers, for example, can assist residents with services such as filling out paperwork or coordinating rides to the doctor. All this, proponents of the “housing-first” approach say, helps people stay housed as they rebuild their lives.

Offering stable housing and support has reduced homelessness and health care spending by helping people manage chronic conditions. In one such Maryland program, people used emergency and other hospital services less than before they were enrolled, according to a study by The Hilltop Institute at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Federal housing subsidies have also been linked to earlier detection of breast, colon and lung cancers, according to a 2025 study from researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The $28 million complex will span five buildings at Park Avenue and North Liberty Street and is expected to be completed by early next year. It’s being funded by the Low Income Housing Tax Credit — a competitive federally funded financing program — and grants from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation and the Hackerman Foundation.

Sojourner Place at Park’s location next to Baltimore’s “Superblock,” the two-block parcel that used to function as the city’s premier shopping destination, is no accident. Baltimore Development Corp. CEO and president Otis Rolley said as the city aims to bring the west side of downtown back to its former glory, housing for all income levels is a “necessary” component.

The project “adds the most value to the city,” in terms of its long-term success, Rolley said, “not necessarily the most tax revenue.” In this location, residents will have easy access to public transit, a range of social services and jobs.

Health Care for the Homeless CEO and president Kevin Lindamood, and Episcopal Housing Corp. executive director Dan McCarthy, said even with a different philosophy from the White House they’re committed to the housing-first strategy.

Though it’s expensive and requires layers of different funding sources to pull off, Lindamood and McCarthy noted that “it’s the only thing” they’ve seen work to end homelessness.

“We’re at an interesting point historically, where our community is all in,” Lindamood said. But the work is in some ways more challenging now, he noted, with frequent changes, executive orders and threats of defunding coming from the federal government.

As Sojourner Place at Park readied to break ground this fall, the Trump administration proposed dismantling a federal housing program for homelessness prevention, including cutting $46 million from Maryland. While Sojourner Place was not affected, the move generated sharp blowback from housing providers and advocates across the country, who said such programs should be beefed up, not pared back.

Maryland joined 19 other states in suing over the “unlawful” changes, which Attorney General Anthony Brown said would force more than 4,000 Marylanders out of their homes. U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy last month barred the administration from making the proposed change.

At a December vigil for people who died while experiencing homelessness in Baltimore, Antonia Fasanelli, executive director of the National Homelessness Law Center, said leaders “on both sides of the aisle” have harmed the unhoused with “what they see as a quick fix: punishment, and often tickets, fines or jail time.”

Under Trump, she noted, such policies have gained momentum in several states.

“We know that punishment of unhoused people is wrong, is inhumane, and is ineffective,” she said. “Permanent housing, and only permanent housing, is the solution to homelessness, not forced drug treatment, not involuntary mental health care, and not defunding affordable housing.”

The number of people experiencing homelessness has continued to rise across the country. In Baltimore, the number of people using emergency shelters for overnight stays has doubled in the last two years. City officials have said rising rent and home ownership costs and the loss of funding for programs to pay off overdue rent and avoid evictions have contributed to the increase.

The city has faced criticism in recent months at a series of City Council meetings over the condition of its shelters, including concerns about safety, hygiene and shelter staff.

McCarthy said the complaints are a “rational reaction” to having higher levels of need in the community. There aren’t enough resources, he said. And the problems extend far beyond Baltimore.

“Only by reordering our priorities will we really solve it,” he said.