Brief on HUD's Suspension of Housing Voucher Reform

The Institute for Policy Integrity supports a legal challenge against the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for suspending the 2016 Small Area Fair Market Rent Rule. This rule required public housing agencies to calculate vouchers by zip code by January 2018 to increase affordable housing availability in higher-rent neighborhoods and reduce the concentration of recipients in low-cost areas. The author contends that HUD's suspension of the rule until January 2020 is unlawful because the agency failed to provide a new economic justification or seek public feedback, thereby violating the Administrative Procedure Act.

• The 2016 Small Area Fair Market Rent Rule required public housing agencies to calculate housing vouchers based on zip codes instead of metropolitan area averages by January 2018, aiming to increase voucher purchasing power and decrease the concentration of recipients in less-diverse, low-cost neighborhoods.
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development effectively suspended the Small Area Fair Market Rent Rule in 2017, extending the suspension until January 2020.
• The suspension of the rule is argued to violate the Administrative Procedure Act because the agency did not open the suspension for public comment nor explain why the original economic justification for the rule was no longer valid.

APA

Institute for Policy Integrity (2017). Brief on HUD's Suspension of Housing Voucher Reform. https://policyintegrity.org/projects/update/brief-on-huds-suspension-of-housing-voucher-reform

Chicago

Institute for Policy Integrity. Brief on HUD's Suspension of Housing Voucher Reform. 2017. https://policyintegrity.org/projects/update/brief-on-huds-suspension-of-housing-voucher-reform.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Policy Integrity |title=Brief on HUD's Suspension of Housing Voucher Reform |date=13 November 2017 |url=https://policyintegrity.org/projects/update/brief-on-huds-suspension-of-housing-voucher-reform |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforpolicyintegrity2017brief, author = {{Institute for Policy Integrity}}, title = {{Brief on HUD's Suspension of Housing Voucher Reform}}, institution = {Institute for Policy Integrity}, year = {2017}, month = nov, url = {https://policyintegrity.org/projects/update/brief-on-huds-suspension-of-housing-voucher-reform}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }