HUD Decides to Evict 'Over-Income' Public Housing Tenants

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has shifted its response to an audit finding tens of thousands "over-income" residents living in subsidized housing.

1 minute read

August 20, 2015, 9:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


"The Department of Housing and Urban Development said Tuesday that in response to an unsparing audit by its watchdog, it’s urging public housing authorities across the country to kick out tenants who make too much money to qualify for government subsidies," reports Lisa Rein.

The audit, by the office of Inspector General David Montoya, found that "more than 25,000 tenants earn more than the maximum income to get into public housing –almost half of them making $10,000 to $70,000 more," according to Rein.

The decision to evict "over-income" families marks a shift from the initial response to the audit from HUD. "HUD’s deputy assistant secretary for public housing and voucher programs had denounced the report before its release in late July as contradicting HUD policy, which allows 'over-income' families to stay because evicting them could destabilize their progress toward self-sufficiency."

The article goes into how HUD might address the dual goals of public housing—economic diversity and affordable housing—in the future so that they aren't as likely to contradict with each other. 

Wednesday, August 19, 2015 in The Washington Post

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