The Department of Housing and Urban Development may be on the verge of sweeping policy changes that could affect millions of renters nationwide. According to ProPublica, the nonprofit newsroom obtained drafts of two unpublished rules from HUD that would sharply tighten requirements for receiving federal housing assistance, including the imposition of work mandates, time limits on public housing, and restrictions tied to immigration status.
Experts who reviewed the drafts told ProPublica the measures could strip housing aid from roughly 4 million people—about half of the 8 million currently receiving federal assistance. HUD declined to confirm or comment on the documents. GlobeSt.com contacted the agency but received no response. That may reflect the ongoing government shutdown, during which press officials may not be classified as essential staff.
One of the draft rules, titled Establishing Flexibility for Implementation of Work Requirements and Term Limits, outlines new powers for Public Housing Agencies and “certain Multifamily Housing owners” to impose work requirements and set time limits for adults in public housing or those assisted through Housing Choice Vouchers, Project-Based Vouchers, or Project-Based Rental Assistance. The rule would apply such limits to non-elderly and non-disabled families, potentially ending aid after a set number of years even if households remained in need.
The second document, Housing and Community Development Act of 1980: Verification of Eligible Status, would revise HUD’s Section 214 rules to require proof of citizenship or immigration eligibility for all recipients of assistance under the age of 62. The proposal appears tied to letters HUD sent in September to more than 3,000 housing authorities demanding that they provide tenants’ citizenship and immigration information within 30 days or risk losing federal funding.
While the drafts leave discretion to public housing agencies, previous moves by HUD suggest the department could use funding as leverage to impose requirements more broadly. ProPublica noted the Trump administration had attempted similar restrictions during its first term, and this year it renewed those efforts, including proposing a 43% cut to the rental assistance budget.
“These are rules that are going to cause an enormous amount of hardship for millions of people in communities across the country,” Will Fischer, director of housing policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, told ProPublica.
The drafts are not final and could be modified before public release. But for multifamily housing markets, they raise familiar challenges, from the administrative burden of additional data collection and verification to the potential reputational risks of enforcing policies certain to draw controversy.
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