The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is proposing a rule to institute work requirements and time limits on beneficiaries of public housing, the department said in a statement on Feb. 27.
Under the rule, all public housing authorities (PHA) and Section 8 project-based rental assistance (PBRA) owners will have the flexibility to implement these requirements on non-elderly, non-disabled, work-capable adult beneficiaries in public housing.
PHAs manage public housing properties and review applications to determine if the applicants qualify for public housing. In the Section 8 PBRA program, private home owners enter into agreements with HUD to provide rental properties to low-income individuals. The residents pay only part of the rent, with the government paying the remaining amount.
According to a notice of the proposed rule scheduled for publication on March 2, PHAs and PBRA owners can require work-eligible adults to engage in work activities for up to 40 hours per week as a condition of continuing to receive housing assistance or of occupying public housing.
PHAs and PBRA owners can establish term limits of at least two years for non-elderly, nondisabled families living in public housing or receiving housing assistance.
In all cases, PHAs and PBRA owners can establish either or both work requirements and term limits on beneficiaries.
“PHAs and Owners can designate who within a household is subject to the work requirements and how to apply the work requirements,” HUD said in its latest statement.
“Importantly, PHAs and Owners that implement work requirements and/or time limits will be required to offer supportive services to facilitate self-sufficiency” among beneficiaries.
Supportive services include referring beneficiaries to a local workforce development center, providing job training, offering substance use treatment and counseling, and enabling beneficiaries to complete high school, according to the notice.
HUD Secretary Scott Turner said that housing assistance was never meant to provide government support to “work-able” individuals for their entire lives.
“Rather, it should be a temporary foundation to launch into a life of self-sufficiency. Getting a paycheck is empowering, getting a welfare check is not,” Turner said.
“HUD’s proposed rule will restore dignity and well-being among residents we serve. Our proposal expands access for deserving families on waiting lists, while still preserving protections for elderly and disabled households.”
Turner announced the proposed rule at the Housing Authority of Champaign County (HACC), a Moving to Work (MTW) designated PHA for over a decade, according to the HUD statement. MTW PHAs can implement housing and self-sufficiency strategies for beneficiaries, including work requirements.
Less than 1 percent of all PHAs in the country have work requirements, and HACC is one of them. HACC requires able-bodied individuals to work 15 hours or more per week, and families to work at least 30 hours per week, HUD said.
Negative Impact, Constrained Resources
In a July 18 report, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities raised concerns about imposing time limits on recipients of rental assistance.The center warned that time limits would put over three million individuals, half of whom are children, at risk of eviction and homelessness.
“Today, families can receive federal rental assistance for as long as they need it to help them afford market rent. The majority of participants exit assistance within five years (including seniors and people with disabilities, who tend to receive assistance for longer periods than other participants),” the report said.
“Due to a long history of discrimination in housing and other areas the impact would fall disproportionately on Black and Latino people,” the center said about the proposed rule.
“The harm from the Administration’s time limit plan would be especially severe for the 1.7 million children in families who would lose rental assistance if this policy were in effect today.”
In its statement, HUD highlighted the issue of beneficiaries remaining on federal assistance for longer periods, stretching the department’s resources thin.
Since 2010, the average length of stay for beneficiaries across major HUD rental programs has jumped from five to six years to almost eight to nine years, the department said.
“Nearly 90 percent of able-bodied Section 8 voucher recipients will spend more than five years in subsidized housing, and 50 percent will spend more than fifteen years, while HUD resources currently only serve a quarter of eligible Americans in need.”