North Charleston nonprofit suing Trump administration over grant funding freeze

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – Energy-efficient affordable housing, support for local farmers, air pollution monitoring, and other community-based projects have been left in “limbo” by the Trump administration’s freeze on federal grant funding, according to a new lawsuit.

The lawsuit, filed March 19 in the U.S. District Court of South Carolina, challenges the administration’s authority to unilaterally freeze billions of dollars in awards administered through the Inflation Reduction Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

It was filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of 11 nonprofit organizations and six cities.

Each of these groups received federal grant funding for their respective projects but have been able to access it since Trump’s executive orders paused funding approved under the pair of spending packages. This has caused delays and disruptions to the groups’ work and in some cases forced them to consider layoffs or other mechanisms to stay financially afloat, the complaint states.

“When Congress decided it was time to invest in American communities, infrastructure, and innovation around the country, these groups stepped up,” said Kym Meyer, SELC’s Litigation Director. “The plaintiffs in this case won highly competitive grants because of the excellent projects they put forward, and the government should honor the commitments it made to these hardworking local organizations dedicated to helping their communities. This chaotic federal funding freeze is destroying their ability to do important work to create jobs and improve lives.”

Among the named projects is one by the North Charleston-based Sustainability Institute to build and weatherize affordable homes in the Union Heights neighborhood.  

The nonprofit was awarded a $11.4 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency in 2024 to carry out the project. That funding has been frozen and unfrozen three times since the end of January, according to the lawsuit.

Bryan Cordell, the executive director of the Sustainability Institute, stated in a March 19 press release that the organization and its partners have already invested “thousands of hours” to make the project a reality.

“Continued freezes and disruptions to our work would be catastrophic to the project and would be equivalent to the government turning its back on the promised housing, jobs, and other economic, environmental, and social impacts that are set to be delivered,” Cordell said. “We can’t allow that type of failure to occur.”

Attorneys are asking the court to issue a preliminary injunction barring the administration from blocking access to the funds.

The lawsuit is the latest in a wave of legal challenges against Trump and his Department of Government Efficiency – spearheaded by Elon Musk—to drastically cut government spending.

Two federal judges have already blocked aspects of the order, ruling that the freeze on congressionally approved grants likely violates the law.