HUD Mulling Work Requirements and Higher Rents for Housing Assistance

"The Trump administration may introduce minimum work requirements for some recipients of housing aid, while raising rents for others," reports Kriston Capps on a developing story that reveals details of the ongoing evolution of federal housing policy under the Trump Administration.

Capps describes the document as a draft proposal for rent reforms, with input from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). "The document sets forth line-by-line text changes to the U.S. Housing Act of 1937, the law that first established federal housing aid, plus adjustments to subsequent acts in 1959 and 1990," explains Capps. Any action to establish work requirements for housing aid would be in line with similar policies enacted for food aid and Medicaid in recent months. Capps describes the HUD action as another sign that the Trump Administration is cutting the social safety net.

Capps's coverage of the document includes a lot more detail about the proposed changes to the U.S. Housing Act, the politics of housing assistance, and the potential effects of these changes for people seeking or receiving housing assistance.

A separate article by Rachel M. Chohen and Zaid Jilani also details the leaked document, describing it as draft legislation and including a quote from HUD Spokesperson Brian Sullivan, who tells the reporters that more details about work requirements and rent increases will be available when the Trump Administration announces its budget later this month. Cohen and Jilani also report that the draft legislation proposes rent hikes for people receiving housing assistance. According to their analysis, households receiving federal housing subsidies would lose elderly and disabled deductions, a child care deduction, and medical and disability deductions.