Resolution Introduced Rejecting Secretary Carson’s Proposed Rent Hikes

In response to HUD Secretary Ben Carson’s proposal to increase rents and impose work requirements on the lowest income households, House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA) recently introduced H. Res. 886 to affirm the importance of the Brooke rule. Enacted by Congress in 1969, the Brooke rule limited federally assisted housing tenants' out-of-pocket rent expenditure to 25 percent of their income.

The percentage was raised to 30 percent in 1981 and has been the standard since then. Representative Waters’ resolution rejects Dr. Carson’s proposal to increase rents on HUD-assisted households to 35 percent of gross incomes and “acknowledges the need for increased funding for Federal rental assistance programs in order to assist more families in need.”