National Housing Law Project Housing Law Bulletin

HUD Pamphlet on (Some) Resident Rights and Responsibilities

HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing Programs has recently produced a pamphlet, Resident Rights and Responsibilities, for use by residents of HUD multifamily housing. (The pamphlet does not address the rights of public housing residents.)

Written in plain language, the pamphlet is informative on issues it does cover (and as long as those rights and the housing programs themselves still exist). These include the rights to habitable housing, to organize without harassment, to use common areas, to review HUD files and so forth. Significantly, however, HUD has omitted from its itemization of tenants’ rights the termination of additional rent subsidies, such as Section 8, and the whole area of evictions — the right to good cause for eviction and the right to receive proper notice and to have an informal meeting with the landlord.

Copies of this pamphlet may be obtained from any local HUD field office or from HUD’s National Multifamily Housing Clearinghouse by calling 1-800-685-8470. Chinese, Korean, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese versions are also available.