National Housing Law Project Public Housing

GENERAL AUTHORITIES AND INFORMATION

• Conventional Public Housing and Leased Public Housing
• HOPE VI: Revitalization and Demolition of Severely Distressed Public Housing

• New Mandatory Community Service Requirements in Public Housing
• Advocates' Guide to the Public Housing Community Service/Self-Sufficiency Requirement in California
  California housing and welfare advocates have put together an Advocates' Guide to the Public Housing Community Service/Self-Sufficiency Requirement in California. This Guide focuses on explaining the categories of California public housing residents who are exempt from performing community service. Click here for a copy of the Advocates' Guide.
• $25 Tenant Participation Packet  
• Earned Income Disregard (EID) Packet for Public Housing Voucher Program and Other Housing Programs [EID Law Enacted October 28, 1998]
• Pre-1998 Packet: Earned Income Disregard for Public Housing and Section 8 Certificate and Voucher Program. [For Claims under Prior Law]
• Eviction of Innocent Tenants Due to the Acts of Others and HUD's "One Strike" Policy

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

• Comments on Revisions to the Public Housing Operating Subsidy Fund Program, 70 Fed. Reg. 19,858 (Apr. 14, 2005)
  Comments were submitted by NHLP, NLIHC, Wayne Sherwood, Greater Boston Legal Services, ENPHRONT and Massachusetts Union of Public Housing Tenants and other HJN members. The comments focus on several areas. One they briefly critique the Harvard Cost Study and state that it should not be a basis of the operating subsidy rule. Two the comments set forth the goals of the Negotiated Rulemaking Act and conclude that HUD violated it when it unilaterally altered the proposed operating subsidy rule. Three the comments urge that the operating subsidy rule that was agreed to in the Negotiated Rulemaking process should be published for comment in the form and with all the elements of the formula that were agreed to by the "Neg. Reg." Committee. Four the comments urge that when the phase in period covered by the proposed regulations is complete in 2011, the rule should be subject again to a negotiated rulemaking process. Finally the comments support certain key resident concerns including the $25 per unit per year and the payment of operating subsidies for units used for resident organizations. Click here for a copy of the comments.
• Comments of the Housing Justice Network on the Proposed Rule on the Demolition or Disposition of Public Housing Projects
  HUD proposed to revise the regulations governing demoliton or disposition of public housing developments. 69 Fed. Reg. 75,188 (Dec. 15, 2004). The Housing Justice Network (HJN) submitted comments on the proposed rule objecting to several provisions, requesting the modification of the proposed rules, and suggesting alternative language. The comments focused on issues such as the certification regarding the housing authorities annual plan, standards for resident consultation, environmental review, on site replacement of units, and reporting of resident relocation. Click here for a copy of the HJN comments.
• Letter from Carolyn Peoples, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, to Heather A. Mahood, Long Beach, CA, Deputy City Attorney (April 26, 2004) (HUD evaluated City of Long Beach's compliance with Section 3 by looking at the number of hours worked by new hires on a yearly basis) (For more information See HUD Rules Long Beach Violated Section 3 Employment Requirements, 34 Hous. L. Bull. 105 (June 2004)). The HUD Letter from Carolyn Peoples required the City of Long Beach to develop a "restitutiion plan" which specified in "clear and convincing" detail how the City will restore over the next three years all the lost opportunitites for Section 3 employment and contracting with Section 3 businesses. Click here for a copy of two letters from the City of Long Beach which set forth the "restitution plan" as amended and letters from the HUD and the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles which objected to elements of the original "restitution plan."
• Administrative Complaint of the Carmelitos Tenants Association and individual tenants at 2 (June 9, 1998) (challenges the failure of the City of Long Beach to comply iwht Section 3). (This document is only available to HJN members).
• Final Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook is posted on our website.
• The Housing Justice Network (HJN) and the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) submitted comments on HUD's Draft "Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook" on September 16, 2002.  These comments are available in PDF or WordPerfect format. The text of the Draft "Public Housing Occupancy Guidebook" is still available at HUD's web site, and we post a copy here for reference.
• The National Housing Law Project, the Poverty & Race Research Action Council, Sherwood Research Associates and ENPHRONT announce the release of "False HOPE: A Critical Assessment of the HOPE VI Public Housing Redevelopment Program." Click here to download in Acrobat (.pdf) format.
• Legislation
• Regulations
• HUD Notices
• Reports
• Cases 

                                                                                                                                                  .