Work Requirements in Public Housing Can Lift Millions Out Of Dependency
Key Findings
- Nearly all federal housing assistance programs have long waitlists, leaving millions of truly needy families without assistance.
- 43 percent of able-bodied adults without young children who are receiving housing assistance do not work at all.
- The lack of work requirements promotes long-term dependency, with more than half of able-bodied adults remaining on housing assistance for more than 15 years.
- Work requirements will lift able-bodied adults out of dependency and preserve resources for the truly needy.
Overview
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides federally funded assistance for low-income individuals to obtain housing.1 This assistance is provided primarily by three programs—public housing, housing choice vouchers, and project-based housing.2 Housing choice vouchers allow participants to choose housing in the private market.3 Residents pay 30 percent of their adjusted monthly income toward rent and utilities and the voucher is used to cover the remainder.4 Public housing refers to homes or apartment buildings owned by the government and used to house participants, with residents generally paying 30 percent of their adjusted monthly income toward rent.5
Project-based housing assistance is a collection of similar programs in which private landlords own a building and enter into a contract with the local housing authority to provide beneficiaries with a unit.6 The beneficiary pays 30 percent of their adjusted income for rent and if a tenant moves, the assistance stays with the unit, not the tenant.7
Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) are chartered by states to administer federal housing programs at the local level.8 There are more than 3,500 PHAs across the country administering federal housing assistance programs.9
Traditionally, these housing assistance programs have not had work requirements or time limits like other welfare programs such as food stamps and cash welfare.10 Work requirements in other programs have lifted welfare enrollees out of dependency and helped them to achieve self-sufficiency and economic security.11
States should require PHAs to adopt work requirements and time limits for housing vouchers and public housing and require landlords to implement work requirements and time limits for tenants in project-based housing.
Millions of families languish on years-long waitlists for housing assistance
Most welfare programs function as entitlements, providing benefits to everyone who qualifies.12-13 Housing assistance operates differently, and there are years-long backlogs across the country.14 Only 25 percent of those who qualify for housing assistance receive it due to these backlogs.15
The national average wait time for a housing voucher or public housing unit is more than 2 years, but in some PHAs the wait spans into decades.16 Thousands of PHAs have waitlists that are entirely closed to new applicants, and have been for years.17 For example, in Philadelphia, the waitlist for public housing has been closed since 2013, and there are more than 40,000 people on the list.18 One PHA in New York has a waitlist for public housing that is nearly 24 years long.19 Three different PHAs in Massachusetts have waitlists longer than 20 years for vouchers.20 Denver, Colorado has forgone a waitlist entirely, and instead opens a lottery each year.21 The odds of an eligible applicant receiving assistance in this lottery are six percent.22
Nationwide, there are more than 8.4 million low-income households that lack stable, adequate housing.23 However, virtually all PHAs have waitlists for vouchers or housing units.24 Of the largest 100 PHAs by unit, 88 percent have a waitlist of more than 12 months for public housing, and 86 percent have a waitlist of more than 12 months for vouchers.25
Some PHAs use a lottery system to clear the waitlist, and others have a first-come, first-served system, while still others give priority to certain groups, such as those who are currently homeless.26 Despite the wide variety of systems used to administer the program, across the country, there are able-bodied adults in taxpayer-funded housing while individuals with disabilities, seniors, and families with children wait for years.27
The lack of work requirements for public housing is trapping people in dependency
A whopping 39 percent of heads of households on housing assistance are able-bodied adults under the age of 62.28 Of these able-bodied adults without children under the age of six, 43 percent are not working at all.29
In the housing choice voucher program, just 27 percent of beneficiaries report wages as a major source of income.30 In the project-based housing assistance program, only 17 percent have wages as a major source of income.31 Overall, there are more than 1.8 million households headed by an able-bodied adult receiving housing assistance while waitlists continue to grow.32
Without work requirements or time limits, recipients have no incentive to change their circumstances and move toward work. The average time spent receiving housing vouchers is 10 years.33 The average time that a beneficiary lives in public housing is 12 years.34 In 2026, there was just eight percent turnover in housing assistance beneficiaries over the previous 12 months.35
More than 80 percent of able-bodied adults spend more than five years in subsidized housing and 87 percent spend more than five years receiving a housing choice voucher.36 A staggering 60 percent of able-bodied, working-age adults spend more than 15 years receiving a housing voucher, and 50 percent live in subsidized housing for more than 15 years.37
Not only do most participants in housing assistance stay on the program for many years, but research has shown that receiving these benefits has a negative impact on work. In one study, receiving a housing voucher corresponded to a 10 percent reduction in wages from work.38 Another study showed individuals receiving housing assistance were less likely to work than individuals in similar circumstances who received other forms of support.39
Housing work requirements are effective in improving employment and income
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 established work requirements and time limits for cash welfare.40 That same year, a provision in the appropriations legislation for HUD created the Moving to Work pilot program to test interventions that would encourage housing assistance beneficiaries to work.41 These demonstration projects have shown work requirements for public housing have been effective in increasing workforce participation and wages.
Nine PHAs implemented work requirements for working-age, able-bodied adults ranging from 15 to 30 hours per week as a part of their Moving to Work demonstrations.42 All PHA staff who were interviewed during the evaluation of the demonstration programs reported that work requirements helped program participants move toward self-sufficiency, reporting higher workforce participation and wages, and increased educational attainment.43
In Charlotte, North Carolina, 51 percent of residents subject to the requirements were employed prior to enforcement.44 Three years later, 93 percent were employed.45
The proportion of residents paying the minimum rent also decreased following the implementation of work requirements, which is indicative of increased wages.46 This allows the program to serve more people because funding for vouchers goes further when residents contribute more toward rent.47 The evaluation of this program also found that when supportive services were provided without a mandatory work requirement, employment and incomes did not rise to the same degree, suggesting that a work requirement is a crucial element of a work policy that may also include other case management services.48
A Moving to Work demonstration project in Champaign County, Illinois, showed that resident income increased by 92 percent over five years among those subject to work requirements compared to just 13 percent in a similar PHA that did not have a work requirement.49 The increase in household earnings and subsequent increase in rent paid by beneficiaries allowed the Champaign County PHA to serve nearly 100 more families from the waitlist.50 More than 600 families fully transitioned to self-sufficiency over six years.51 In Lexington, Kentucky, participation in cash welfare fell among those subject to the work requirement while incomes rose.52
Time limits have also been implemented in at least 22 PHAs as part of Moving to Work demonstrations.53 Establishing time limits for able-bodied adults in one PHA in California increased wages by 31 percent over the five-year period that residents were eligible for assistance and increased full-time employment by 20 percent.54
Work requirements will lift able-bodied adults out of dependency and preserve resources for the truly needy
When work requirements were implemented in the 1990s, millions of able-bodied adults moved from welfare to work, contributing to broader economic growth.55 Analyses of state-level implementation of work requirements in food stamps have reached similar conclusions.56-61
When work requirements were implemented by states for able-bodied adults on food stamps, record numbers of able-bodied adults were able to leave welfare, gaining self-sufficiency.62 Those subject to work requirements found jobs in more than 1,000 diverse industries.63 Incomes more than doubled after just one year and tripled within two years.64 Better still, the higher incomes more than offset lost welfare benefits, leaving them much better off financially.65
When one state temporarily implemented Medicaid work requirements before being blocked by the Biden administration, thousands of enrollees were able to leave the program due to increased incomes.66 States that enforced work requirements and time limits on cash welfare following the 1996 reform saw their caseloads among able-bodied adults plummet.67
States should implement work requirements for housing assistance programs
States and PHAs have been interested in expanding work requirements to housing assistance for years but have been stymied by a lack of clear guidance from the federal government.68 Fortunately, the Trump administration has made ensuring that welfare programs are reserved for the truly needy a top priority. Recent proposed rulemaking by HUD would allow PHAs or landlords of project-based housing units to implement reasonable work requirements for able-bodied adults without young children.69 It also allows the imposition of time limits for vouchers, public housing, and project-based housing.70 If implemented, this rulemaking would finally allow housing assistance to come with reasonable work requirements and time limits, decades after the initial Moving to Work demonstration projects showed that this policy is effective.
There are more than 3,500 PHAs nationwide that implement housing assistance programs that would have the option to implement work requirements and time limits under the proposed rule, as well as individual landlords that own housing projects.71
To make the most of this opportunity to help housing assistance participants move to work, states should require that PHAs under their jurisdiction implement work requirements for public housing and housing choice vouchers. States should also require that owners of project-based housing implement work requirements. This approach ensures consistency across the state.
The Bottom Line:
To promote work and reduce dependency, states should require Public Housing Authorities to implement work requirements for able-bodied adults receiving housing assistance.
Welfare work requirements are effective in moving participants from dependency to self-sufficiency. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act created new policies to enforce and strengthen existing work requirements for food stamps and, for the first time, created work requirements for Medicaid. Cash welfare has had work requirements and time limits in place for 30 years.
Housing assistance is a form of welfare that has, until now, allowed participants to remain trapped in dependency for decades, leaving the truly needy on waitlists. The Trump administration’s proposed rule to allow PHAs to enforce work requirements and time limits will help millions of able-bodied adults move out of public housing and alleviate the waitlists across the country. States should move to implement this new flexibility so that they can capitalize on the opportunity to implement work requirements as soon as possible.
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