A federal appeals court judge Wednesday ruled against the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce support for long-term housing for people at risk of becoming homeless.

Governors and attorneys general from Maine and 19 other states and Washington, D.C., sued the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in November, arguing that the department was illegally upending support services, resulting in reduced access to long-term housing. An array of social service organizations and individual cities, including Boston, also sued.

The suit was in response to plans the department announced earlier that month to cut funding for long-term housing assistance in its Continuum of Care grant program and redirect those resources to transitional housing and short-term supports like emergency shelters.

The two lawsuits challenged HUD’s changes and a district court granted their requests for a preliminary injunction. HUD later moved to dissolve the injunction, but the district court denied the motion. HUD appealed and sought an emergency stay pending the appeal decision.

U.S. Circuit Court Judge Julie Rikelman cited in her decision Wednesday the impacts that social services organizations across the country say would result from the changes. Some had stated they’d have to cease operations.

“These on-the-ground warnings, and the dozens of others documented in the record, demonstrate that a stay would have immediate and ‘devastating impacts’ on the plaintiffs and the people they serve,” the judge wrote in her decision.

The lawsuit alleged HUD violated its own regulations by not engaging in rulemaking before making the changes, and violated the law by not receiving congressional authorization for them.

“When so many can barely afford basic necessities, the cruelty of threatening housing security for vulnerable Mainers to advance a political agenda is appalling,” said Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey in a news release Thursday. “While this attempt by HUD was obviously unlawful, the stress and uncertainty the Administration created in a vulnerable population and the people working hard to support them is wholly unnecessary and deeply destructive.”

Continuum of Care programs support more than 1,800 people across Maine, and state officials have said the federal government’s proposed changes jeopardize housing for more than 1,200. Most are served through the Permanent Supportive Housing Program run by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

“I applaud Attorney General Frey on this critical victory, which blocks the President’s callous attempt to take housing away from more than 1,200 Maine people,” Gov. Janet Mills said in the news release. “I will continue to stand alongside the Attorney General to fight back against the President’s abuses of power and attempts to harm Maine people.”