The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is directly threatening the very same low-income people that they are charged to protect. Through a series of proposed agency rules that attack the basic foundations of federal support for the poorest among us, HUD has taken steps to:
- Place time limits and work requirements on access to housing vouchers and public housing;
- Revoke the 30-day eviction notice for tenants at properties that receive federal assistance; and
- Disqualify mixed status households from eligibility for housing support that households members are otherwise eligible for.
HUD is the sole backstop to provide housing for the most vulnerable households in the country, specifically those with extremely low-incomes whom market rate housing will almost certainly never be able to serve. For all of HUD’s well-documented problems–many of which boil down to a severe lack of funding–HUD housing has historically come about as close as we get in the United States to embodying true social housing principles. It doesn’t fully get there, but it comes closer than most other low-income housing types in the U.S.
Now, instead, HUD is proposing an inside job to gut its entire mission. Last week, we wrote about HUD’s proposal to ban mixed status households and put eligible Texans out on the street. Today, we follow up with a look at HUD’s proposed benefits cuts rule and proposed repeal of the CARES Act 30-day eviction notice. Texas Housers stands with the people and organizations across the country who are standing up against these harmful, destructive changes, which will decrease access to stable, affordable housing and leave low-income people with nowhere else to turn.
These moves send a clear message: our nation’s housing agency no longer believes that it should provide affordable, stable housing to low-income people.
HUD’s Proposed Benefit Cuts Rule
HUD has announced a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) which would allow public housing authorities to adopt work requirements and time limits for their residents. Under this proposal, housing authorities could adopt rules to require residents that are able-bodied adults to work. Then, housing authorities could also adopt rules that limit access to housing vouchers or public housing to as few as two years.
HUD’s push for time limits in HUD housing isn’t going to create affordable housing that serves households with the lowest incomes out of thin air. We wrote last month about Texas’ abysmal report card on available housing that is affordable for extremely low-income families. It simply doesn’t exist. HUD housing is the only shop in town for these cost burdened households. These rule changes also aren’t going to magically raise wages. The work requirements provision stems from the harmful and false stereotype that affordable housing residents don’t work. In actuality, many of the lowest income householders that are not disabled, not children, and not seniors are working, but wages in this state (and most states) are so low that they still aren’t able to afford housing without assistance.
If housing authorities adopt these provisions, or if states require them to in response to HUD’s rulemaking, this is a recipe for increasing housing instability, suffering, and homelessness among our most vulnerable neighbors.
Repeal of 30-Day Eviction Notice for HUD Housing
On top of work requirements, time limits, and the ban on mixed status households, HUD has also proposed plans to revoke the 30-day eviction notice requirements for HUD housing that help keep low-income families housed and avoid unnecessary evictions. HUD’s 2024 rule made permanent the COVID-era 30-day eviction notice requirement in cases of nonpayment of rent for public housing and privately-owned Section 8 Project Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) housing.
In a state like Texas, the repeal of the HUD 30-day eviction notice would mean that the most vulnerable low-income residents in public and project-based housing would be vulnerable to the state’s unjust 3-day eviction notice, which can be contracted in the lease down to a single day. We believe that all renters deserve stronger eviction protections, but it’s a particularly tough pill to swallow that renters living in HUD housing will only receive 1-3 days’ eviction notice, and no stronger protections than market rate tenants regarding their ability to catch up on rent. The injustice embedded in Texas’ eviction process is painfully clear, as the state’s powerful landlord lobby chips away at the meager protections that exist legislative session after legislative session.
Research consistently shows that evictions are devastating for the families that endure them. They lead to a host of measurable negative outcomes on health, economic attainment, risk of homelessness, and future attainment for children. Evictions harm individuals, families, children, and the health and stability of the greater community. HUD houses the most vulnerable, lowest-income families. These families deserve protections to ensure that a careless and speedy eviction doesn’t result in avoidable housing instability and homelessness.
HUD’s multi-front attack on low-income families must end now. We call on HUD to do their job and help low-income families obtain housing that is affordable, stable, dignified, and fair!
How you can get involved in opposing HUD benefit cuts:
Submit public comments to HUD by May 1st expressing your opposition to benefit cuts.
- Read the NHLP “Get the Facts” memo
- Understand the potential impact in Texas
- Review these briefs from the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) and the National Housing Law Project (NHLP)
- Consider using the NHLP comments template
How you can get involved in opposing the rollback of the CARES Act 30-day eviction notice:
Submit public comments to HUD by April 27th.
- Read NHLP’s memo
- Consider using the NHLP comments template
