To President Donald Trump and many Republicans in Congress, it’s the “big beautiful bill” that reconciles the federal budget. But some Baltimore-area housing officials and advocates see something much worse.

“That is apocalyptic level,” said Terry Hickey, director of the Baltimore County Department of Housing and Community Development, which both receives and allocates money from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Many Baltimore-area housing providers are preparing for the worst as Congress considers drastic cuts to federal housing programs for low-income tenants, homeowners and people facing homelessness. The cuts, they believe, would cause immediate disruption and even danger for households across the country.

The reconciliation bill, as well as the White House’s proposed budget for the 2026 fiscal year, would largely end housing voucher programs. They also would significantly reduce funding for housing programs and services, from homeless shelters to new development projects; add work requirements and time limits for housing voucher recipients; and combine the remaining funds into a skinnier block grant that states would be forced to administer.

The White House also has advocated for eliminating funding for several key programs.

The Trump administration has argued that these cuts create more efficiency and empower states to develop their own housing programs.

While the budget reconciliation bill also would provide more tax subsidies for some housing developers, including in rural areas, the loss of so much funding and social services for low-income households could fundamentally change the Baltimore region, housing providers said, affecting everything from how homes get built to how people can afford them.

Hickey made his remarks Tuesday morning at an event sponsored by The Baltimore Banner in Sparrows Point, where he also made clear the county’s reliance on federal dollars: It distributes about $9 million a month from HUD just on rental assistance to landlords, he said.

That’s money the county simply can’t replace, which means people could lose access to social services and probably their homes if the bill passes, Hickey said.

On Tuesday, housing justice advocates in Baltimore City and Howard County also spoke out against the proposals, which they said would increase homelessness, displace more households through evictions and prevent much-needed maintenance work in aging public housing units — all while cutting taxes for the country’s wealthiest.

“This is extremely dire, and we don’t want people thrown in the streets like trash,” said Jamal Turner, vice chair of the Baltimore City Continuum of Care, which helps steer HUD funds to the city with a board that includes people experiencing homelessness.

“They are putting people into garbage bags, and putting them out into the streets,” Turner said.

In addition to the Continuum of Care board, Turner directs the Nolita Project, a nonprofit that works with young people and adults who are re-entering society after incarceration. The loss of critical housing supports, he said, will undo years of progress in creating safer and healthier communities.

The federal proposals would hit especially hard in predominantly Black communities, added Nico Sanders, chair of Continuum of Care, by forcing more people into homelessness and worsening already long wait times in hospital emergency departments. For Baltimore, where emergency shelter use doubled last year, Sanders didn’t mince words: He said the HUD cuts will kill people — including veterans, seniors and children.

“Prepare for total destruction and despair,” Sanders said.

Speaking alongside Baltimore County Council member Julian Jones Jr., a Democrat who represents Owings Mills, Hickey said that while the cuts have alarmed Baltimore County, there’s a chance the full sweep of Trump’s proposals won’t get passed, noting the president’s first term. There’s also a chance the county will receive more funding for some specific housing programs next year, including for homeless services.

Trump’s “big beautiful bill” awaits passage in the U.S. Senate after passing in the House of Representatives by one vote last month. Since then, billionaire Elon Musk, a one-time Trump ally and former Department of Government Efficiency head, has criticized it, warning that the bill could inflate the deficit. House Speaker Mike Johnson said the bill should pass by early July.

Like Hickey, Jones likened the housing program cuts in the federal budget reconciliation bill to an “apocalypse.”

Jones, whose Baltimore County Council colleagues have blocked or stalled several high-profile housing projects over the last few years, said he considers the proposed cuts counterintuitive. With more money, he said, the county’s housing programs have become more efficient, not less.

“If you want to really help people,” he said, “can you invest more funds in the programs? And not cut the money and then somehow leave it up to us?”