Moments after Daniris Espinal walked into her new apartment in Brooklyn, she prayed. In ensuing nights, she would awaken and touch the walls for reassurance — finding in them a relief that turned to tears over her morning coffee.

Those walls were possible through a federal program that pays rent for some 60,000 families and individuals fleeing homelessness or domestic violence. Espinal was fleeing both.

But the program, Emergency Housing Vouchers, is running out of money — and quickly.

Funding is expected to be used up by the end of next year, according to a letter from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and obtained by The Associated Press. That would leave tens of thousands across the country scrambling to pay their rent.

It would be among the largest one-time losses of rental assistance in the U.S., analysts say, and the ensuing evictions could churn these people — after several years of rebuilding their lives — back onto the street or back into abusive relationships.

“To have it stop would completely upend all the progress that they’ve made,” said Sonya Acosta, policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which researches housing assistance.

“And then you multiply that by 59,000 households,” she said.

The program, launched in 2021 by then-President Joe Biden as part of the pandemic-era American Rescue Plan Act, was allocated $5 billion to help pull people out of homelessness, domestic violence and human trafficking.

People from San Francisco to Dallas to Tallahassee, Florida, were enrolled — among them children, seniors and veterans — with the expectation that funding would last until the end of the decade.

But with the ballooning cost of rent, that $5 billion will end far faster.

Last month, HUD sent letters to groups dispersing the money, advising them to “manage your EHV program with the expectation that no additional funding from HUD will be forthcoming.”

The program’s future rests with Congress, which could decide to add money as it crafts the federal budget. But it’s a relatively expensive prospect at a time when Republicans, who control Congress, are dead set on cutting federal spending to afford tax cuts.

Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, who championed the program four years ago, is pushing for another $8 billion infusion.

But the organizations lobbying Republican and Democratic lawmakers to reup the funding told the AP they aren’t optimistic. Four GOP lawmakers who oversee the budget negotiations did not respond to AP requests for comment.

“We’ve been told it’s very much going to be an uphill fight,” said Kim Johnson, the public policy manager at the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Espinal and her two daughters, aged 4 and 19, are living on one of those vouchers in a three-bedroom apartment with an over $3,000 monthly rent — an amount extremely difficult to cover without the voucher.

Four years ago, Espinal fought her way out of a marriage where her husband controlled her decisions, from seeing her family and friends to leaving the apartment to go shopping.

When she spoke up, her husband said she was wrong, or in the wrong or crazy.

Isolated and in the haze of postpartum depression, she didn’t know what to believe. “Every day, little by little, I started to feel not like myself,” she said. “It felt like my mind wasn’t mine.”

When notices arrived in March 2021 seeking about $12,000 in back rent, it was a shock. Espinal had quit her job at her husband’s urging and he had promised to cover family expenses.

Police reports documenting her husband’s bursts of anger were enough for a judge to give her custody of their daughter in 2022, Espinal said.

But her future was precarious: She was alone, owed thousands of dollars in back rent and had no income to pay it or support her newborn and teenage daughters.

Financial aid to prevent evictions during the pandemic kept Espinal afloat, paying her back rent and keeping the family out of shelters. But it had an expiration date.

Around that time, the Emergency Housing Vouchers program was rolled out, targeting people in Espinal’s situation.

A “leading cause of family homelessness is domestic violence” in New York City, said Gina Cappuccitti, director of housing access and stability services at New Destiny Housing, a nonprofit that has connected 700 domestic violence survivors to the voucher program.

Espinal was one of those 700, and moved into her Brooklyn apartment in 2023.

The relief went beyond finding a secure place to live, she said. “I gained my worth, my sense of peace, and I was able to rebuild my identity.”

Now, she said, she’s putting aside money in case of the worst. Because, “that’s my fear, losing control of everything that I’ve worked so hard for.”

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Michigan veterinarian who said she rescued a distressed dog that was tied to a truck is facing a theft charge after failing to return him to a homeless man.

Amanda Hergenreder took the dog on a two-hour drive to her clinic, where she performed procedures to relieve a severe urinary tract infection and remove a rotten tooth. She named him Biggby and says the 16-year-old pit bull mix is thriving nearly four months later.

But the Kent County prosecutor said Biggby belongs to Chris Hamilton, who lately lacks a permanent home in the Grand Rapids area and claims ownership of a dog known to him as his beloved Vinny.

“I just want my dog back,” Hamilton, 57, told WOOD-TV. “I had my dog 15 years. Never neglected him and, you know, we loved each other. I mean, I felt like I lost part of my body after that. Never felt the same after losing him.”

Prosecutor Chris Becker said it is a simple case of larceny, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of 93 days in jail. Jury selection for a future trial is scheduled for March 6.

“You don’t have a right to just take something because you feel something’s wrong. … People have a very big attachment to their animals,” Becker told the TV station. “No matter where you are in life, what your stature is in life, be it rich, poor, whatever it is, this is something that’s important to an individual.”

Hergenreder said she was in Grand Rapids in November for a professional conference when she saw the dog tied to a truck near a Biggby coffee shop. There is no dispute that she called the police department and animal shelter and also talked to a shop employee.

“No energy, very lethargic,” Hergenreder said of the dog. “We carried him to our vehicle. It was just very sad.”

Hergenreder said she performed medical procedures at her clinic worth $3,000. She said he runs and plays at her home, adding that she is “starting to slowly see the light come back in his eyes.”

Hamilton acknowledged that he tied the dog to the truck while he walked to a gas station. He said when he returned, about 45 minutes later, coffee shop employees told him “some lady in a van came and took my dog, snipped the rope.”

Hergenreder’s attorney, Miles Greengard, is offering a vigorous defense of the veterinarian. He said she fears the dog won’t get the attention he needs in old age if she gives him up.

“Mr. Hamilton didn’t even take such basic steps as licensing the dog,” Greengard told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “Now he expects a benevolent doctor to give Biggby the medical treatment he’s been denied and needs moving forward, and then give the dog back?

“I think it’s an unfortunate situation all the way around,” Greengard said. “But I’m glad Biggby is living his best life.”

NEW ORLEANS — As New Orleans prepares to host the Super Bowl next month, Louisiana authorities cleared homeless encampments around the stadium on Wednesday and relocated many to a temporary warehouse facility that costs millions of dollars to operate.

Gov. Jeff Landry framed the sweep — which city officials say undermines their efforts to address homelessness — as part of a move to secure New Orleans, especially in the aftermath of the New Year’s Day attack that killed 14 people.

The tough-on-crime Republican governor has talked about plans to improve Louisiana’s most popular city ahead of the Super Bowl at the Superdome. That has included a new Louisiana State Police troop dedicated to New Orleans, removing homeless encampments elsewhere in the city, and ensuring highways, sidewalks and transportation lines are clean and safe.

“It is in the best interest of every citizen’s safety and security to give the unhoused humane and safe shelter as we begin to welcome the world to the City of New Orleans for both Super Bowl LIX and Mardi Gras,” Landry said in a Monday statement.

Last week, the state’s Supreme Court overturned a restraining order that had barred the state police from clearing homeless encampments in New Orleans. Days after the ruling, “relocation notices” from the state appeared at one of the city’s largest homeless encampments beneath an underpass near the Superdome. The notice warned that “everyone must comply” and “failure to do so may result in enforcement actions or legal proceedings.”

On Wednesday morning state police converged on the encampment and told people to pack their possessions into boxes and that there were buses to take them to a “transitional center” miles away at a fenced-in warehouse owned by the Port of New Orleans.

People at the encampment were told that they did not have to go to the transitional center, but they were not allowed to remain in the area and were under threat of arrest, Mike Steele, a spokesperson for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, told The Associated Press.

Among those at the encampment was Ray Cooper, who scoured for his social security card amid scattered clothes, bicycles and tents. Cooper, 35, has lived mostly on the streets for the past few years and declined the state’s offer to bring him to the transitional center.

“That just turned me off — we’re going to a warehouse? I’m not a UPS package or anything like that, I’m a human,” said Cooper.

The temporary center has the capacity to house 200 people. As of Wednesday evening, 131 people were staying there, said Bart Farmer, the president of Workforce Group, a company that specializes in post-disaster assistance and is operating the site.

The center includes three meals a day, bedding, showers, toilets, refrigeration for medication and veterinary care for their pets, according to the relocation notice. The site is estimated to cost the state $16.2 million to operate over a 90-day period, according to a proposal crafted by the Workforce Group and obtained by the AP.

Critics argue the relocations to the center are a band-aid solution. In a letter sent to the governor from 12 community organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, the groups expressed “serious reservations about the effectiveness, cost-efficiency and long-term impact of this approach.”

“Evidence-based best practices for ending homelessness are centered on permanent housing with supportive services,” said Martha Kegel, who leads UNITY, an agency which partners with the city on efforts to house and support its homeless population.

Part of Landry’s homeless strategy, announced on Monday, states that housing and services will be prioritized for “citizens that have jobs” and that people “who have means will be given bus or train tickets out of state.” While details surrounding the plan are still unclear, Steele said that relocations out of state would be voluntary.

Landry’s approach clashes with the City of New Orleans’ plans to close these same encampments by first providing long-term housing to people living in them. The city said it has requested $6 million from the state to assist in these efforts and that state-led sweeps cause “delays” in providing housing and services to the approximately 1,500 homeless people in the city.

Candice Allison, 63, who said she had been homeless since Hurricane Ida destroyed her trailer in 2021, sorted through a mass of clothes and other items she hoped to salvage on Wednesday, fearing authorities would return to confiscate her possessions.

“I’ve been doing this all night, I haven’t ate, I haven’t slept, I’m exhausted,” Allison said.

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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Brook on X: @jack_brook96