HUD Publishes Proposed Rulemaking Regarding Time Limits and Work Requirements; New NLIHC, Partner Resources; Comments Due May 1

By Alayna Calabro, NLIHC Senior Policy Analyst and Renee Williams, NLIHC Senior Advisor for Public Policy 

On March 2, HUD proposed allowing public housing agencies (PHAs) and HUD-assisted owners to impose work requirements and time limits on assisted families. If implemented, such policies are expected to have negative impacts on HUD-assisted households. For example, a recent Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) analysis found that a 2-year time limit on assistance would result in an estimated 3.3 million people losing their rental assistance, including 1.7 million children.  

HUD’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), “Establishing Flexibility for Implementation of Work Requirements and Term Limits,” would allow “well-performing” PHAs and Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) owners to adopt work requirements for “work-eligible” adults of up to 40 hours per week. “Work-eligible” adults are defined in the NPRM as individuals ages 18 to 61 who are not people with disabilities, pregnant, or enrolled in higher education. The “work-eligible” definition also excludes primary caretakers for: a person with a disability, a child under six, or a person who is temporarily incapacitated.  

The NPRM would also allow for time limits on assistance after two years for “non-elderly, non-disabled families.”  

The NPRM would apply to the following programs: public housing, Housing Choice Vouchers (HCV), Project-Based Vouchers (PBV), and PBRA. 

NLIHC strongly opposes the NPRM. Members of the public can submit comments until May 1, 2026, at 11:59 pm ET.  

In future issues of Memo, NLIHC will provide additional information about submitting comments in response to the NPRM. 

The Proposed Rule: Work Requirements 

Under HUD’s proposal, housing providers could require “work-eligible” adults to engage in work activities for up to 40 hours per week. HUD proposes to define work-eligible as “an assisted family member aged 18 to 61, excluding persons with a disability as defined in 24 CFR 5.403 or a primary caretaker of such individual, or who are pregnant, or who are the primary caretaker for a child under 6 years of age or for temporarily incapacitated individuals, or who are enrolled as a student in an institution of higher education as defined in section 102 of the Higher Education Act of 1965.” PHAs and owners could also raise the minimum age or lower the maximum age, but could not, for example, consider someone under 18 or over 61 to be “work-eligible.”  

The NPRM would afford PHAs and owners discretion to design work requirement policies, such as number of hours required (up to 40 hours/week per work-eligible adult) or whether a work requirement applies at the individual or household level. The proposal would also allow PHAs and owners to implement different work requirements across different programs and projects “to address local needs and goals.” This means that a PHA could have different work requirements for a PBV project and a public housing development in the same PHA’s portfolio. An owner could have differing work requirements between two different projects. However, PHAs and owners could not vary work requirements within a single project.  

Under the proposed rule, a provider could also implement an exemption from the work requirement policy for special purpose vouchers (e.g., Mainstream vouchers). HUD has excluded the HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program from the NPRM. 

PHAs and owners would be responsible for verification and enforcement of the policies. Failure to comply with work requirements would be permissible grounds to terminate assistance for families or a covered family member. 

The Proposed Rule: Time Limits 

The NPRM would allow PHAs and owners to establish time limits of “no less than two years for non-elderly, non-disabled families receiving HCV, PBRA, or PBV assistance or residing in public housing.” Under the NPRM, time limits can only be applied prospectively, such that the time counted toward the time limit does not begin until the PHA or owner implements the time limit. 

HUD is categorically excluding the “HUD-VASH program, the Family Unification Program (FUP) when used by youth, and the Foster Youth to Independence (FYI) Program” from time limits under the proposed rule.  

However, the NPRM states that HUD is requiring fewer exemptions for applying time limits than it does for work requirements. For example, while primary caretakers of children under six are not counted under the NPRM as “work-eligible” adults, there is no similar exemption for time limits based on the presence of young children under six in the household. PHAs and owners could, however, choose to adopt additional exemptions from time limits. Additionally, PHAs and owners could also extend the time limit to a period longer than two years. A PHA could also choose to exempt the HCV Homeownership program from the time limit policy since there is already a regulatory limit to that assistance. 

As with work requirements, the NPRM would allow PHAs and owners to adopt different time limit requirements across programs and projects in their portfolio, but each project must have a uniform time limit. Exceeding a time limit would constitute grounds for termination of assistance.  

Implementation of Work Requirements and Time Limits 

The NPRM outlines the procedures a PHA or owner would need to follow when implementing work requirements or time limits. For example, work requirement or time limit policies must be included in the PHA’s administrative plan for the HCV and PBV programs, in the PHA’s admission and continued occupancy policy (ACOP) for public housing, or the tenant selection plan for the PBRA program. PHAs and owners who adopt work requirements and time limits must have written hardship policies.  

Providers who adopt work requirements and/or time limit policies must provide supportive services to help families obtain employment, engage in work activities, and attain “economic independence and self-sufficiency to prepare for the termination of assistance.” The rule includes a broad list of supportive services such as making referrals to a local workforce development center, financial literacy training, or transportation. PHAs cannot expend HCV administrative fees and PBRA owners cannot use project funds to provide these services. 

Based on adoption patterns among PHAs in the Moving to Work (MTW) Demonstration, HUD estimates that approximately 750 PHAs and 3,504 owners will adopt a work requirements or time limits policy.  

Expected Negative Impacts if the Proposed Rule is Finalized 

Federal rental assistance programs help more than 10 million people—overwhelmingly families with children, older adults, people with disabilities, full-time caregivers, and workers paid low wages—remain housed. Rental assistance is a vital tool to combat the affordable housing crisis, helping families afford the cost of rent and freeing up more income for other necessities, like nutritious food, medical care, transportation, and school supplies.  

Adoption of work requirements or time limits will lead to more families and children experiencing eviction and homelessness, with people of color at greater risk. Under the proposal, millions risk losing their assistance if they exceed strict time limits, cannot meet harsh work requirements, or struggle to meet burdensome new reporting requirements. According to a July 2025 Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis, a 2-year time limit in HUD programs (specifically, public housing, Housing Choice Vouchers, and PBRA) would result in an estimated 3.3 million people losing their rental assistance. 

New Resources 

The National Housing Law Project (NHLP)—jointly with NLIHC, the Center for Law and Social Policy, Justice in Aging, and Southern Poverty Law Center—recently published a resource entitled, “Work Requirements and Time Limits in Rental Assistance Programs Will Worsen Housing Instability.” This document outlines the ways in which imposing work requirements and time limits in HUD programs is counterproductive. 

NLIHC, NHLP and CLASP have also synthesized CBPP data and NLIHC data to create fact sheets for each state and the District of Columbia. These fact sheets are posted online as a single, searchable PDF. 

What to Expect 

Publication of the NPRM has initiated a 60-day comment period. NLIHC will include additional information in future Memo issues for members of the public who wish to comment.  

Read the NPRM here. 

The explainer about work requirements and time limits can be found here. 

The state-by-state profiles can be found in a single PDF here. 

Submit comments via regulations.gov until May 1, at 11:59 pm ET.