Capital & Main via Times of San Diego · on a California bill barring housing-authority work requirements and time limits
The California Legislature passed and sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom a bill, carried by Assemblymember Matt Haney and sponsored by the National Housing Law Project, that forbids California housing authorities from imposing work requirements or time limits on low-income tenants receiving federal rental assistance; the bill responds to HUD's proposed rule permitting such conditions. Newsom has until September 30 to sign or veto it and has not indicated his position; if he signs, California would become the first state with a law expressly forbidding its housing agencies from imposing the requirements. More than 900,000 Californians rely on federal housing assistance.
Nineteen states plus the District of Columbia wrote to HUD Secretary Scott Turner in May opposing the proposed work-requirements and term-limits rule, whose comment period closed May 1.
Federal Register · on loosened MTW safe harbors on work requirements, term limits, and spending
HUD published a revised Operations Notice for the Moving to Work expansion, changing the "safe harbor" limits that let expansion agencies adopt policies without prior HUD approval: the maximum work requirement per individual rises to 40 hours per week, the minimum term of assistance under term limits drops to two years, and the safe harbor restricting Local Non-Traditional activity spending to 10% of the Housing Assistance Payment budget is deleted. The revisions apply to MTW expansion agencies, and comments are due November 2.
This is HUD's fifth issuance affecting public housing or Moving to Work agencies in six business days, following PIH notices 2026-21, 2026-22, and 2026-23 and the August 28 admission-and-occupancy collection notice.
The Reading, Pennsylvania housing authority convened advocates, service providers, and local officials on August 20 to weigh whether to adopt work requirements or time limits for public housing residents under HUD's proposed rule, which lets authorities adopt either, both, or neither. The authority operates 1,610 public housing units, saw 120 households exit in 2025, and received 2,296 applications when its waiting list opened for four days in 2023; president and CEO Stacey Keppen said no decision has been made.
HUD's proposed work-requirements rule closed comments May 1; it would make work requirements a condition of continued occupancy, not admission, and exempts older adults and people with disabilities.
The Bipartisan Policy Center published an analysis of the comment record on HUD's proposed rule letting public housing agencies and assisted-housing owners opt into work requirements and time limits, reporting that the public submitted nearly 2,000 comments. The brief said the rule could affect a share of the more than 4.3 million households served by HUD's Housing Choice Voucher, public housing, and PBRA programs, and that an estimated 20 Moving to Work agencies have already established some form of work requirement.
The proposed rule published March 2, 2026, closed comments May 1, and HUD has said it plans a final rule this fall.