Trump Plan to Raise Minimum Rents Would Put Nearly a Million Children at
Risk of Homelessness
Friday, May 04, 2018
By Alicia Mazzara, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities | Report
The Henry Rutgers Houses, a public housing development built and maintained
by the New York City Housing Authority, stand in in the Lower East Side of
Manhattan, April 26, 2018, in New York City. Housing and Urban Development
Secretary Ben Carson has proposed changes to federal housing subsidies,
potentially tripling rent for some households and making it easier for
housing authorities to impose work requirements. (Photo: Drew Angerer /
Getty Images)
Under President Trump's proposal to raise rents by up to $1,800 a year on
the poorest households receiving federal rental assistance -- virtually all
of which have annual incomes of less than $7,000 -- roughly 1.7 million
people (including nearly 1 million children) would face eviction, hardship,
and homelessness.
The proposal would raise rents on people receiving rental assistance from
the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in several different
ways. One is by raising the "minimum rent" for assisted households.
Currently, assisted households generally must pay 30 percent of their income
for rent. Public housing agencies, however, may require households to pay a
minimum rent of up to $50 per month, and households in Section 8
Project-Based Rental Assistance pay a minimum rent of $25 per month -- even
if that exceeds 30 percent of their income. The Trump proposal would raise
the monthly minimum rent for any household with an adult younger than 65 who
is not considered disabled to at least $152 and make it mandatory. That
would triple the rent for affected households now paying a $50 minimum. (The
proposal would set the minimum rent at $50 for households where all members
are 65 or older or have a disability, including in the supportive housing
programs for the elderly and people with disabilities, which now have no
minimum rent.)
The $152 minimum rent proposal would affect only the poorest people
receiving federal rental assistance, raising rents on some 1.7 million
people, including 970,000 children. The number of children in severe poverty
has grown substantially since the mid-90s, in part because the safety net's
erosion for families with children has left many such families with little
or no income when they're jobless. Many of the other affected adults have
been homeless or may have physical or mental health conditions, or limited
education, that make it difficult to find or sustain employment.
The typical affected household is a mother with two children with an annual
income of $2,400 -- just $200 per month. After paying rent under this
proposal, the family would have only $48 for necessities like clothing,
personal care items, diapers, or school supplies, as well as food or medical
needs that aren't met by other assistance.
2018 0504rent2
While affected families may be eligible for hardship exemptions from having
to pay the higher minimum rent, very few assisted families receive such
exemptions in practice. Households have to request an exemption, but
eligible households may not know that exemptions are available or how to
apply if the housing agency doesn't adequately publicize the policy. There's
little reason to expect that to change under a higher minimum rent policy,
as HUD has not complied with a 2016 congressional directive to certify that
existing protections are being enforced.
A $152 mandatory minimum rent would put the lowest-income families and
individuals at risk of eviction and even homelessness, which is particularly
harmful to children. Rental assistance programs are designed to help
low-income families rent decent housing at an affordable cost. This proposal
does the exact opposite by raising the rent on the most vulnerable
HUD-assisted households.
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Alicia Mazzara
Alicia Mazzara is a Research Analyst in the Housing Division. She works on
issues related to federal low-income housing policy.
Prior to joining the Center in 2015, Mazzara was a Policy Advisor in Third
Way's Economic Program where her research centered on income inequality,
labor market dynamics, and workforce development. She has also spent time
working in the federal government and as a Research Associate at the Pew
Charitable Trusts.
Mazzara has a Bachelor's Degree in political science and international
relations from Carleton College and a Master of Public Policy from George
Washington University.
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