Minnesota’s housing network is scrambling to adjust to the federal government’s new grant stipulations in housing and homeless programs.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced changes Nov. 14 in its annual Notice of Funding Opportunity for Continuums of Care (CoC). Among them were a cap on permanent housing funding at 30%, requiring treatment in programs, and a ban on any program that recognizes transgender individuals.

Co-Coordinator Patty Beech-Dziuk, who has been with the CoC since it started in the 1990s, said changing priorities with different administrations are expected, but that these shifts are particularly “drastic.”

“Our homeless response system has been built over like 40 years, through Republican and Democratic administrations,” she said. “We’ve made different shifts over the years, but trying to make this drastic of a shift in whatever it is, five or six weeks, it’s just incredibly challenging.”

According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, this particular NOFO could cause 3,930 people to lose housing in Minnesota and a loss of $26,595,473 in funding. In Minnesota, 48% of permanent housing beds are currently funded by the CoC program.

Regional impacts

Cara Oakland, CoC co-coordinator with Beech-Dziuk, said 67% of the northeast region’s CoC funding goes toward permanent housing, and under the new restrictions, the northeast region could only submit up to 30% of their total funding and requests permanent housing for 2026.

“Figuring out how to move a permanent housing project to transitional housing in hopes that you can maintain any amount of funding … It’s really difficult, and it’s nearly impossible to figure that out in, essentially, we got four weeks from HUD to figure out what projects get funded and how to rank them,” Oakland said.

Carla Solem, CoC coordinator for the west-central region, said housing projects starting in 2024 served 190 individuals and 79 households — 97 adults and 93 children under age 18.

Currently, 77% of the west-central region’s annual funding goes to permanent housing and 74 of the 79 households were in permanent housing.

Among those supported by the funding, 71 had a mental health disorder and 24 had a physical disability, Solem said. Forty-six of the individuals in the west-central CoC region had experienced domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence, stalking and/or human trafficking, and 78 were considered chronically homeless.

Oakland said the northeast region serves similar populations, including veterans.

She said the people served by the programs might not get access to housing otherwise.

“For our region, it’s not about the quantity of people, but the vulnerabilities of the populations that are being served and the risk to them returning to homelessness when these projects are forced to close because of HUD’s changes,” Oakland said.

Shifting priorities

One of the stipulations from HUD in its new Notice of Funding Opportunity goes against the “housing first” strategy — providing housing without requiring preconditions like sobriety or treatment compliance.

Oakland said that from her time in the field, she knows it’s not effective to “force someone into treatment when they are not ready and willing to go.”

“That’s why HUD has pushed ‘housing first’ for so long, because housing first works and it’s proven to work,” she said. “You get them stable and connected to their basic needs, and then you can work on that next step.”

Sen. Lindsey Port, DFL-Burnsville, agreed and said the “cost of pulling housing-first providers in favor of transitory beds will be in human lives.”

“The changes to these Housing and Urban Development grant requirements are a depraved new low — one that will knock down thousands of Minnesotans who are beginning to climb out of homelessness,” she said. “Housing first and harm reduction are proven methods of helping people overcome some of the most difficult challenges a human can face; yet with a stroke of a pen, hundreds of programs that provide these services are cut off from the funds that make their work possible.”

Litigation and uncertainty ahead

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued HUD on Nov. 25 with a coalition of Democratic attorneys general, but Beech-Dziuk said CoC can’t wait until the litigation plays out to apply for grants in the coming year.

“We’re watching it, but we’re also working diligently to meet HUD’s requirements,” she said. “HUD has real specific timelines so that there’s a fair funding process locally … We’re doing all that. And then if something happens with that lawsuit, we will adjust.”

Beech-Dziuk said she’s worried about the northeast region’s ability to backfill in the same way that others, like Duluth or Hennepin County, could.

“Duluth has its own Community Development Block Grant,” she said. “They have some local and county money they devote to addressing homelessness. I mean, the number of people that are homeless is also bigger, but they have a wider variety, where, like, small towns and rural counties and tribes don’t have a lot of the same resources to address homelessness.”

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By MEG KINNARD and JOEY CAPPELLETTI

Republicans held onto a reliably conservative U.S. House district in Tennessee’s special election, but only after a late burst of national spending and high-profile campaigning helped them secure a margin less than half of last year’s race.

Even with that victory, the outcome contributed to a gloomy outlook for the party going into the 2026 midterms that will determine control of Congress. Republicans will need to defend much more vulnerable seats if they have any hope of keeping their House majority, while Democrats are capitalizing on President Donald Trump’s unpopularity and the public’s persistent frustration with the economy.

“The danger signs are there, and we shouldn’t have had to spend that kind of money to hold that kind of seat,” said Jason Roe, a national Republican strategist working on battleground races next year.

He said that “Democratic enthusiasm is dramatically higher than Republican enthusiasm.”

Republican Matt Van Epps, a military veteran and former state general services commissioner, defeated Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn by 9 percentage points on Tuesday for the seat vacated by Republican Mark Green, who retired over the summer. Green had won reelection in 2024 by 21 percentage points.

Special elections provide a limited window into the mood of voters and take place under far different conditions than regular campaign cycles. But some Republicans are acknowledging the warning signs, especially after Democrats had convincing victories in New Jersey, Virginia and elsewhere last month.

Tennessee was the fifth House special election this year, and Democratic candidates have outperformed Kamala Harris’ showing in the 2024 presidential race by an average of 16 percentage points in the same districts.

“We could have lost this district,” U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Fox News after The Associated Press called the race for Van Epps. Cruz said his party must “set out the alarm bells” because next year is “going to be a turnout election and the left will show up.”

Trump dismisses affordability concerns

Although inflation has dropped since Democratic President Joe Biden was in office, Behn focused her campaign on the lingering concerns about prices.

Trump has played down the affordability issue, saying during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday that it was “a con job” by his political opponents.

“There’s this fake narrative that the Democrats talk about, affordability,” he said. “They just say the word. It doesn’t mean anything to anybody, they just say it.”

Roe viewed things differently. He said the Tennessee race had “better be a wake-up call that we’ve got to address the affordability problem, and the president denying that affordability is a political issue is not helpful.”

Maintaining House control is crucial for Trump, who fears a repeat of his first term, when Democrats flipped the House and launched an impeachment inquiry. The Republican president has been leaning on GOP-led states to redraw congressional maps to improve the party’s chances.

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Trump campaigned for Van Epps, boosting him during the primary with an endorsement and participating in two tele-rallies during the general election.

The Republican National Committee also deployed staffers and partnered with state officials to get voters to the polls. MAGA Inc., the super political action committee that had gone dark since supporting Trump in 2024, reemerged to back Van Epps with about $1.7 million.

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., visited the Nashville-area district on Monday.

“When you’re in a deep red district, sometimes people assume that the Republican, the conservative will win,” he said Tuesday. “And you cannot assume that, because anything can happen.”

Chip Saltsman, a political strategist and former Tennessee Republican Party chair, said his party had brought in its heaviest hitters simply because there were not other competing contests, not because Republicans feared a loss.

“It’s the only election going on. Why wouldn’t the speaker come?” he asked. “There was one race, and you would expect everybody to do everything they could.”

Democrats see promise despite loss

The House Majority PAC put $1 million behind Behn. After she lost, Democratic national party chair said Behn’s performance was “a flashing warning sign for Republicans heading into the midterms” in 2026.

Behn said her campaign had “inspired an entire country.”

“Let’s keep going,” she urged voters after her loss. “We’re not done. Not now, not ever.”

Although Democrats were optimistic, the result contributed to some murmuring within the party about the best path forward as it grasps for a path back to power in Washington.

Among special elections this year, the shift in Behn’s direction was the second smallest, providing an opening for some factions that believe more moderate candidates would fare better.

“Each time we nominate a far-left candidate in a swing district who declares themselves to be radical and alienates the voters in the middle who deliver majorities, we set back that cause,” said a statement from Lanae Erickson, a senior vice president at Third Way, a centrist Democrat think tank.

Republicans tried to turn Behn’s own words against her in television ads, such as when she described herself as a “radical” or claimed to be “bullying” immigration agents and state police officers. Also cited were comments Behn made about Nashville years ago, when she said, “I hate this city,” and complained about bachelorette parties.

Several high-profile progressive leaders, including U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., had rallied for Behn in the campaign’s final days.

Associated Press writer Maya Sweedler contributed to this report.

By JULIA FRANKEL and SAMY MAGDY, Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel received remains of what could be one of the last hostages in Gaza on Wednesday and said it will begin allowing Palestinians to leave the war-torn territory through a border crossing with Egypt.

The remains found by fighters in northern Gaza have been returned to Israel, where they will be examined by forensics experts. Remains fighters handed over on Tuesday did not match either of the last two hostages in Gaza.

The return of all the hostages taken on the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that started the war is a key element of the first phase of the ceasefire that began in October. In exchange, Israel has been releasing Palestinian prisoners.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, the long-closed Rafah crossing is to be opened for medical evacuations and travel to and from Gaza. The World Health Organization says there are more than 16,500 sick and wounded people who need to leave Gaza for medical care.

It was not immediately clear when the border crossing would be opened, however, because of a dispute Israel is having with Egypt, which wants Palestinians to be able to return to Gaza through the crossing.

Israel says Palestinians will not be able to return to Gaza through the crossing until the last hostage remains are returned from Gaza. Egypt, which controls the other side, said the crossing would open only if movement goes both ways.

Once the last hostages’ remains are returned and Israel releases more Palestinian prisoners in exchange, the U.S.-backed ceasefire plan is supposed to advance to the next phases, which call for creating an international stabilization force, forming a technocratic Palestinian government and disarming Hamas.

Last hostages in Gaza are an Israeli and Thai national

Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said forensic testing showed that partial remains returned by fighters on Tuesday did not match either of the hostages still in Gaza. Palestinian fighters later said they had found more remains in northern Gaza and turned them over to the Red Cross, which is acting as an intermediary.

The two hostage bodies still in Gaza are Israeli Ran Gvili and Thai national Sudthisak Rinthalak. Gvili was an Israeli police officer who helped people escape from the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023, and was killed fighting at another location. Sudthisak Rinthalak was an agricultural worker from Thailand who had been employed at Kibbutz Be’eri, one of the hardest-hit communities in the attack.

A total of 31 workers from Thailand were abducted, the largest group of foreigners to be held in captivity. Most of them were released in the first and second ceasefires. The Thai Foreign Ministry has said in addition to the hostages, 46 Thais have been killed during the war.

Opening of Rafah crossing complicated by dispute

The statement about allowing Palestinians to leave Gaza through Rafah came from COGAT, the Israeli military body charged with facilitating aid to Gaza. It said Israel would coordinate with Egypt on the exit of Palestinians, under the supervision of a mission from the European Union.

Those wishing to leave Gaza will require “Israeli security approval,” COGAT said.

The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Near-Eastern Affairs, writing on X, cast the opening of the crossing as a measure that would afford “the most vulnerable Gazans” access to better medical care.

Palestinians who want to exit Gaza will be able to move through Rafah if Egypt agrees to receive them, Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said. But the crossing won’t be open for Palestinians seeking to return to Gaza until all of the hostages in the territory are returned to Israel, she said.

Citing an unnamed Egyptian official, Egypt’s State Information Service said, if an agreement is reached, the crossing will be opened for travel in both directions in accordance with the ceasefire plan advanced by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Egypt fears that Palestinians allowed to leave Gaza might not be able to return.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has warned that Israel might prompt an exodus from Gaza as a way to permanently expel people and “eliminate the Palestinian cause” for statehood. More than 100,000 Palestinians that left Gaza after the war started, including those wounded in the conflict, have been living in Egypt, according to Egyptian authorities.

The Rafah crossing was sealed off in May 2024 when Israel’s military invaded the area. It was briefly opened in February this year for the evacuation of sick and wounded Palestinians for treatment, as part of the previous ceasefire deal.

Israel and Lebanon to hold talks

Netanyahu said Wednesday that Israel would send an envoy to talks with Lebanese diplomatic and economic officials, marking an “initial attempt to create a basis for relations and economic cooperation” between the two countries. Other participants in the talks are from the U.S., France and the U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL.

Israel and Lebanon have been in a state of war since 1948. Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fought a months-long war that ended in a shaky ceasefire one year ago.

For Lebanon, Simon Karam, an attorney and former ambassador to the U.S., will take part in the talks, Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said. Israeli media identified its envoy as Uri Resnick, a former diplomat and the national security council’s deputy director for foreign policy.

Palestinian hospital says Israel killed a man in Gaza

A Palestinian man was killed by Israeli fire on Wednesday in Gaza Strip, a hospital said, marking the latest reported Palestinian fatality in Gaza.

Israeli forces shot the 46-year-old man in Gaza City’s eastern Zeitoun neighborhood, according to the Al-Ahli hospital, which received the body. Israel’s military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The hospital said the man was shot while in the “safe zone,” which, under the terms of the ceasefire, is not controlled by the Israeli military.

The Gaza Health Ministry says more than 360 Palestinians have been killed across Gaza since the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 11. The ministry sets the total Palestinian death toll from the war over 70,100. The ministry does not distinguish between fighters and civilians, though it says roughly half of those killed have been women and children. The ministry operates under the Hamas-run government. It is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

Return of Palestinian bodies in flux

Twenty living hostages and the remains of 26 others have been returned to Israel since the ceasefire began in early October.

Israel has been releasing 15 Palestinian bodies for the remains of each hostage as part of the ceasefire agreement. The Gaza Health Ministry said the total number of remains received so far is 330. Health officials in Gaza have said they have only been able to identify a fraction of the bodies handed over by Israel, and the process is complicated by a lack of DNA testing kits.

The exchanges have gone ahead even as Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating other terms of the deal. Israeli officials have accused Hamas of handing over partial remains in some instances and staging the discovery of bodies in others.

Hamas has accused Israel of opening fire on civilians and restricting the flow of humanitarian aid into the territory.

The ceasefire aims to wind down the war that was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.

Magdy reported from Cairo. Abby Sewell contributed from Beirut.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump pardoned Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife in a federal bribery and conspiracy case on Wednesday, citing what he called a “weaponized” justice system.

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Trump, who has argued that his own legal troubles were a partisan witch hunt, said on social media that the congressman and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, were prosecuted because Henry Cuellar had been critical of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.

Trump, a Republican, said in a social media post that Cuellar “bravely spoke out against Open Borders” and accused Biden, a Democrat, of going after the congressman and his wife “simply for speaking the TRUTH.”

Federal authorities had charged Cuellar, 69, and his wife with accepting thousands of dollars in exchange for the congressman advancing the interests of an Azerbaijan-controlled energy company and a bank in Mexico. Cuellar is accused of agreeing to influence legislation favorable to Azerbaijan and deliver a pro-Azerbaijan speech on the floor of the U.S. House.

Cuellar has said he and his wife are innocent.