HUD plans new time limits, work requirements for rental aid: report

One representative of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) — a conservative-leaning think tank — told NPR that such limits should not be imposed “in a vacuum,” but instead should include fixed rent and automatic savings accounts to offer beneficiaries upward mobility.

Only a small number of public housing authorities currently have the ability to implement such limits. According to the report, of the 3,300 housing authorities active nationwide, less than 140 have the ability to impose these requirements at all, and the number that have actually implemented them is far smaller.

Only 40 or so have tried either time limits or work requirements, while roughly 20 have tried both, according to an NPR interview with Joshua Meehan, president of the Moving to Work Collaborative, which advocates on behalf of this smaller group.

But HUD is reportedly drafting a rule that would significantly expand the number of housing authorities that could choose to impose the requirements. The rule would not require congressional authorization.

In a guest essay published by The New York Times last month, HUD Secretary Scott Turner joined with the secretaries of the departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Agriculture (USDA), as well as the administrator for the Center of Medicare and Medicaid Services, to describe their philosophy.

Turner, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Brooke Rollins and Mehmet Oz described in the essay their combined effort to “require able-bodied adults (defined as adults who have not been certified as physically or mentally unfit to work), with some exceptions, to get jobs and [are] calling on Congress to enact common-sense reforms into law.”

Turner has long lamented the nature of U.S. welfare programs and actively worked against them during his time as a state legislator in Texas. He also described his dim view of government assistance programs for the poor and unhoused during his time as an active pastor.

A HUD spokesperson neither confirmed nor denied the plan’s details to NPR. But they did say that some of the discussed two-year time limits in the president’s May budget proposal would “be immensely helpful to empower families and individuals to achieve self-sufficiency and economic independence.”

The intense competition across U.S. regional housing markets have already served to push many potential beneficiaries out of these HUD programs, which were already highly competitive since they are not entitlement programs.

Time limits in particular could push more people out, according to a HUD employee who requested anonymity when speaking to NPR. There could also be market ripple effects, the source said.

“Private investors and lenders would not invest in much needed affordable housing development due to the high turnover and vacancies that would come from a two-year term limit,” the person told NPR. “Ultimately, this proposal would result in increases in street homelessness in communities across the country.”