Posted on 09/25/2026 8:13:45 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
A federal grant rejected by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration that would have funded shelter for homeless veterans in New York City included clauses prohibiting the promotion of “gender ideology” and “denial of the sex binary,” which city officials say is why they pulled out of the longstanding program, The City Reporter has learned.
City officials said Friday they exited the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Grant and Per Diem program because the grant required them to comply with two of President Donald Trump’s executive orders they feared would have forced them to discriminate against transgender veterans seeking shelter.
City officials also said the VA only awarded the city’s Department of Homeless Services “a small portion” of its previous GPD awards.
The City Reporter on Thursday broke the news that DHS was leaving the program as of Oct. 1, the start of the federal fiscal year and the next three-year grant period. One city shelter, the Borden Avenue Veterans Residence in Long Island City, has received funding for beds through the GPD program for almost two decades.
A VA spokesperson said at the time that the city’s claim around transgender veterans was “false,” noting the department “determined that it could not justify a larger award” than what it offered after evaluating the Borden Avenue facility “based on past performance, demonstrated need and ability to provide high-quality service to veterans.”
On Friday, VA Press Secretary Quinn Slaven confirmed all VA grantees must adhere to one of the executive orders, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” which Trump signed on the first day of his second term in office in January 2025.
Slaven said in a statement that the city “voluntarily withdrew from the grant process” after learning of the award’s “terms and conditions.” The statement did not mention the second executive order identified by city officials or say whether GPD funds could be used to shelter trans vets, and he declined to comment further.
After The City Reporter’s article was published Thursday, Republican members of the City Council said they were seeking answers about why the city gave up potentially millions of dollars in funding from the program, with the chair of the veterans committee demanding “a full accounting” of what happened.
Another part said “grantees may not utilize grant funds to promote, encourage, subsidize, or facilitate racial preferences, denial of the sex binary, illegal immigration, or other initiatives that compromise public safety or promote anti-American values, per Executive Order 14332 ‘Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking.'” Trump signed that order in August 2025.
DHS said these sections led it to believe it would be prohibited from placing trans male veterans at the Borden Avenue shelter in VA-funded beds. The city agency also said the grant was 30% of the amount it had received under the GPD program in the past, but did not provide a specific dollar figure. The Queens shelter serves more than 200 vets and relies on both federal and city funding.
New York City has a decades-old right to shelter mandating public shelters generally accept anyone who needs a bed.
“As a right-to-shelter city, we decided it was in the best interest of the veterans we serve to ensure access to shelter for all veterans experiencing homelessness,” Neha Sharma, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeless Services, said in a statement Tuesday. “There has been no disruption to critical services for veterans residing at this site, and the city is actively assessing and planning next steps.”
“The part that troubles me the most is that veterans who had nothing to do with this policy dispute are the ones who could lose the most,” Morano said Friday. Protecting transgender veterans and preserving resources for other vets, he said, “shouldn’t be treated as mutually exclusive goals.”
“I would like to know how much money New York City walked away from, what alternatives were explored before that decision was made, could they have continued to accept the grant and just challenged the aspect they found discriminatory,” the councilmember added. “There should be a 0% chance we’re talking about any veteran not having a bed because of this decision.”
DHS declined to comment on Morano’s remarks and referred to its earlier statement about why it is withdrawing from the GPD program.
Councilmember Joann Ariola (R-Queens) is also pressing for information from DHS and sent a letter Tuesday to Commissioner Erin Dalton asking why the agency ditched the program and requesting a response within two weeks. Ariola’s office estimates the current grant amount is about $4 million a year for roughly 125 to 150 beds. If the latest grant award was worth 30% of the amount up until now, as DHS said, that means the city may be giving up more than $1 million a year for homeless veterans.
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All two of them.
Take THAT, Trump! 😉😂😂
No kidding. What is going on in the city where 9/11 took place is disgusting and astonishing.
Penny wise, pound foolish.
Reject all of the funding for veterans just because they can’t promote “gender ideology” say that there are only two sexes. What idiots.
What does Madmoney care about our Vets. He probably views them as terrorists.
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