By Tia Turner, NLIHC Our Homes, Our Votes Project Manager and Lena O’Rourke, NLIHC Consultant
Policy Updates
On July 2, 2025, the Trump Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rescinded a March 7, 1996, Federal Register notice that provided guidance to promote voter registration in Public and Indian Housing. HUD announced the decision to rescind the guidance in a Federal Register notice with no rationale or description, saying that effective July 2, 2025, the 1996 notice is no longer in effect.
The rescission of this guidance does not change PHA’s ability to participate in non-partisan voter registration efforts; it does not prohibit these activities nor change the underlying federal and state voting laws.
However, it certainly signals a deprioritization of voter registration by HUD officials and puts at risk efforts to engage renters in civic engagement.
It also makes clear and transparent nonpartisan voter registration efforts more important than ever. Over the years, PHAs and other housing providers have successfully operationalized non-partisan voter registration. A key best practice is to incorporate registration into day-to-day processes, like intake processes, training sessions, and resident association meetings. Placement of posters in public spaces, like elevators, with key voter registration deadlines and election dates, requires few resources but can be extremely impactful. Our Homes Our Votes has the materials, resources, and strategies needed to promote voter registration in public and Indian housing communities.
Our Home, Our Votes will continue to monitor this situation and share information if and when it becomes available. If you have questions or if you see anything happening on the ground, we’d like to hear about it. For example, if you hear any conflicting advice about the implications of this rescission or if your state puts out new guidance, let us know. Please email [email protected] with any questions, reports, or needs so we can help track and answer questions.
Background
The 1996 Federal Register notice provides voter registration guidance to public house agencies, Indian housing authorities, and Resident Management Corporations. It specifically promotes voter registration consistent with the provisions of the “National Voter Registration Act” in Public and Indian Housing, including in the Section 8 Voucher Program, and can be included as part of the normal application process, the annual recertification process, or when tenants come into the management office to pay rent.
In the 1996 guidance, PHA are:
- Encouraged to include voter-registration applications in their program applications and recertification materials;
- Encouraged to become voter registration agencies;
- Encouraged to permit non-profit, nonpartisan voter registration agencies on the property;
- Permitted to use nonpartisan posters to inform residents of their rights to register to vote; and more.
The guidance also includes important tenant protections, including that PHAs cannot intimidate people into voting or registering to vote or give the appearance that voter registration and voting are not voluntary.
HUD doubled down on this guidance when it circulated announcements to its email lists on February 9, 2022, clarifying that PHAs and recipients of HUD funding are permitted—and actively encouraged!—to facilitate nonpartisan voter engagement activities. The announcement from the Office of Multifamily Housing Programs encourages owners of HUD-assisted housing to share voter and election resources, such as those available via Vote.gov, with residents. The Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) also encourages PHA directors to share this information with residents and PHA staff. NLIHC summarized these announcements in the factsheet, "The Do's and Don'ts of Voter Engagement in HUD-Assisted Properties."
Building on the success of these nonpartisan efforts, the Our Homes, Our Votes Act (H.R. 10215 in the 118th Congress), introduced by Representatives Garcia (D-IL), Scanlon (D-PA), and Williams (D-GA) would facilitate voter registration for residents of public and federally subsidized housing by adding public housing agencies (PHAs) and HUD-assisted housing providers to the “National Voter Registration Act,” commonly known as the “Motor Voter Law.” This has not yet been reintroduced in the 119th Congress.