According to experts who have considered projects, about 4 million people may lose federal housing assistance as part of new plans from Trump administration who have considered projects Two unpublished rules received propublica. The rules will pave the way for many restrictions that are long sought by conservatives, including life -long life, work requirements for many people who receive federal housing assistance, and deprivation of all families when one housekeeping is illegal.
Trump’s first administration tried and did not implement a similar policy and updated effort were in works since then At the beginning of the second term of the president. Now the documents obtained by PROPBLICA are taught how the administration intends to major repairs of large housing programs serving some of the poorest residents of the country, with extensive reforms that experts and supporters warn, weaken the social security network amid historically high remedies, the cost of houses and homelessness.
“These are rules that can cause a lot of difficulties for millions in communities across the country,” said Will Fisher, director of the housing policy of the budget and political priorities center, a non -partisan analytical center. “It will make people become homeless, children are pulled out of schools, people will lose their jobs.”
The press secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which compiled the rules, refused to comment.
Both rules received by Propublica are labeled as drafts and may change before they are officially proposed. At a meeting at HUD headquarters this month, Ben Hobs, headed by the public housing bureau, said the rules are under consideration in the management and budget department, HUD employee reports. (OMB is usually considering the proposed rules for fulfilling federal standards and sequence with the president’s policy.)
The point of adoption of the rules is part of extensive efforts to overcome federal housing programs within the current administration. Trump’s budget proposal is intended to reduce the financing of state housing, vouchers for housing and other rental assistance on 43%. In March the Had and the Department of Internal Security announced the data distribution agreement Earning for the so-called families of mixed status, in which some family members are entitled to housing and others, not because they are illegally or have other immigration status in the country that makes them invalid. Most recently HUD Reportedly planned To demand from all local housing bodies to determine such families with federal agencies.
The requirements for work make a “new sense of purpose for millions of Americans”, according to the secretary of HUD Scott Turner. Calling the welfare of a “lifetime trap” for many, Turner and other high -ranking Trump officials wrote in the joint op-teas“For able -bodied adults, well -being should be a short -term hand rather than lifetime materials.”
Federal housing assistance programs are supported by more than 8 million people, providing units in state housing or subsidies that help cover the cost of renting in the private market. In accordance with these programs, participants pay a rental percentage – usually 30% of adjusted income – and the government covers the rest. Most of those who help, elderly, disabled or children. The average family living in state-owned housing or receives vouchers for housing makes less than $ 20,000 annually and receives benefits for 10-12 years, although families who are not, usually much shorter, according to HUD.
The first rule does not provide for the requirements of the work and terms; Instead, it allows local housing and landlords to implement them. Initially, the Hobbes wanted the rule to demand this policy, but the career staff persuaded him to make them voluntary, according to the official HUD, a familiar question. The rule would allow local housing and private landlords to introduce the requirements for work and restrictions of time in four main federal housing programs: state housing, vouchers to choose from housing, vouchers based on projects and rental assistance (the latter are part of what is commonly referred to as section 8). Residents, including both parents in two -year -old households, may need to work up to 40 hours a week. The time limits can be short as two years, after which residents lost help.
The time limits will apply to any family, in which the main heads will not be elderly or disabled, with few exceptions. Similarly, the requirements for work will apply to residents between the ages of 18 and 61, who are not disabled, pregnant, main supervisors of young children, college students or other released categories. Housing providers can allow them to perform work training or public services instead of traditional work. Housing suppliers who fulfill work requirements should offer residents of support services, but what these services will depend on suppliers. HUD expects 750 state -owned housing bodies and 3,500 landlords will comply with the requirements of work or restriction terms in response to the new rule. Such provisions are likely to be adopted first in more conservative parts of the country, Fisher said.
The new regulation claims that it will facilitate economic self-sufficiency and release subsidized housing for millions who are entitled to help but cannot receive it because of the limited amount of housing aid provided by the government.
Housing defenders and researchers expressed a different opinion. “This is disguised in the working requirements and terms of restriction, but in fact it is a way to deprive the families of their advantages,” said the Deborah Procoral Director of the National Project on Legal Offenses. “This is a huge departure from how HUD programs have been conducted since its creation.”
About 4 million people can lose housing assistance by calculating Fisher, Path and Catherine O’Rgan, a former HUD official, and now Professor of New York University. As a result, many of these people can become homeless.
Fisher noted that most households who do not connect to the disabled are already involved in one or more people who work. But their work often comes with disabilities and payment, so even working families can lose help as a result of the rules.
There is little evidence that work requirements increase economic self -sufficiency among housing recipients, According to the researchers In New York. Studies of other well -being policies, such as an additional nutrition assistance program, have largely shown that the requirements for work do not significantly increase employment, but make people lose help.
The second proposed rule focuses on households of mixed status. According to long -standing HUD rules, such families are allowed to live in state -owned housing or receiving vouchers, but their benefits will be previously, so the impossible members do not receive help, and the family pays a greater share of rent. The proposed rule would change this by doing familiar status, with the exception of help, with rare exceptions. It will also require US citizens who apply for a petition or currently receiving housing aid to provide documents confirming their citizenship, such as birth or naturalization certificates. The authors of this rule claim that this will lead the HUD rules in “greater alignment” with federal law.
The rule can affect 20,000 mixed status families that receive assistance in housing, in accordance with the HUD Rules Received PROPBLICA; 16,000 of these families include children. They live mainly in California, Texas and New York; Average mixed -family income of four are below the Federal Poverty Federal Line of $ 32,000.
The rule would allow families to retain their help if the impossible member comes out. But since most of them are families with children, the walk is expected that virtually all of them will refuse to help with “fear of family division”, – the analysis reads.
HUD analysis suggests that the proposed rule may remain public housing units. Since the provisions will expel the households that receive help and replace them with quite suitable households, it will increase the cost of renting government rent to $ 370 million annually, the analysis said. But HUD does not initially increase the financing of the local state -owned housing authorities, so these bodies may have to offer less vouchers or leave unoccupied units, waiting for HUD.
The requirement that residents and entrants prove their citizenship – and that housing suppliers check it – can create $ 100 million in new costs, waiting for HUD. This new commitment will be particularly difficult for people who will fulfill homeless and low income, even if they are entitled to help, said Sonia Acosta, senior analyst at the budget and priorities of the policy. “It is very likely that the people who need help will not be able to get it from these additional documentation barriers,” she said.
Trump’s first administration offered a similar rule in 2019, but then received more than 30,000 comments, the vast majority in the opposition. In the end, HUD did not complete the adoption process before Trump left the post. Presidential Administration Joe Biden withdrew this proposal in 2021.
If, either when HUD publishes the proposed rules, they will obey public comments which agency should take into account before taking them – a process that may take months or years. The HUD press -secretary did not answer the questions when the agency expects to publish and accept the rules.
