Experts warn that proposed work requirements and budget cuts to HUD programs could strip families of rental assistance and permanent housing benefits.
byFarrah Hassen OtherWords
President Trump isn’t only bulldozing the East Wing of the White House with the help of his billionaire friends. The former developer is also taking a wrecking ball to affordable housing.
Amid historically high housing costs, declining wages, and record homelessness, the Trump administration is upending longstanding federal housing policy that serves the nation’s poorest residents. That could be especially devastating in Illinois, which has among the highest rates of homelessness in the country according to federal data.
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) assistance programs support over 8 million people — mostly seniors, those with disabilities, and families with children — by providing public housing units or rental subsidies. This assistance has also been shown to improve food security and nutrition for low-income households.
However, ProPublica reports that the Trump administration is planning changes that could take away this support from millions.
One proposed regulation would allow local housing authorities — and even private landlords — to impose work requirements and time limits on public housing and vouchers for families without an elderly or disabled head of household.
While the administration claims this rule would promote “self-sufficiency,” advocates like the National Housing Law Project’s Deborah Thrope argue that these work requirements are actually “a way to strip families of their benefits.”
Most non-elderly, non-disabled households who receive assistance already include at least one person who works. And there’s little evidence that arbitrary time limits or work requirements help move people off subsidies. They certainly don’t make housing more affordable.
This draft rule reflects the Trump administration’s larger approach to housing: Punishing those in need but failing to address affordability — the primary driver of homelessness.
Today, a person who works full-time at minimum wage cannot afford a safe place to live almost anywhere in the country. Many are forced to rely on safety net programs — like rental assistance, SNAP, and Medicaid — that Trump is slashing to prioritize tax breaks for billionaires.
Already, Trump’s 2026 budget proposes to cut federal rental assistance by a devastating 43 percent. The administration is also seeking to dramatically cut federal funds for permanent housing to prevent homelessness.
According to internal HUD documents obtained by Politico, the department intends to cap 2026 funding for permanent housing projects, cutting spending by over half and moving funds instead to transitional housing assistance with work or service requirements.
If implemented, these cuts could result in over 170,000 people losing housing assistance and falling into homelessness. Without permanent housing and supportive services, which evidence has repeatedly shown is the most effective way to solve homelessness, more people will end up being shuffled between temporary shelters or forced to live on the streets.
Investing in temporary shelter over permanent housing is wasteful and ineffective. It’s a Band-Aid for our country’s larger failure to ensure adequate housing as a human right and a basic need for all people.
In fact, Trump’s gutting of housing assistance, Medicaid, and SNAP directly violates our rights to housing, health care, and food, which are all recognized under international law as among the universal human rights that governments must protect. These are not bargaining chips to be used and abused by out-of-touch politicians.
Our government refuses to recognize these rights because, under our current economic system, the wealthy see social goods like housing as commodities to be bought up at the expense of working people.
We can overcome these policy choices that favor the wealthy by demanding that our government invest in social programs through taxing the rich.
We should double down on real housing solutions, like increasing federal rental subsidies and enhancing tenant protections. We also need publicly funded housing (or “social housing”) that exists outside the private market and remains permanently affordable.
In the world’s wealthiest nation, our needs and fundamental human rights should never be defunded or negotiated away to subsidize billionaires, the bloated $1 trillion Pentagon budget, and earmarks for a cruel mass deportation and detention system.
The foundation for our nation’s housing policies should be built on the human right to housing, not the private profit of billionaires and real estate speculators.
OtherWords columnist Farrah Hassen, J.D., is a writer, policy analyst, and educator. This op-ed was distributed by OtherWords.org.
There was heated debate when lawmakers took up House Bill 3527 involving school mascots. Bill would prohibit schools from using a name, logo, or mascot that is derogatory or representative of a disabled individual or group.
Photo: Max Vakhtbovycn/PEXELS
The Illinois House passed HB3564, which prohibits landlords from charge fees for the processing, reviewing, or accepting of an application, or demand any other payment, fee, or charge before or at the beginning of the tenancy. Landlords may not call the fee or charges something else to avoid application of these provisions. It also limits fees the total amount that can be collected for late fees.
By Kevin Bessler.::. Staff Reporter The Center Square
SPRINGFIELD - It was a busy day for the Illinois House of Representatives Tuesday with a slew of bills passing through the chamber.
One measure, House Bill 3564, prohibits a landlord from imposing a move-in fee for renters. It also limits fees for the late payment of rent to a one-time $15 fee for every $1,500 of rent. Democratic state Rep. Rita Mayfield, D-Waukegan, said that amount is pointless.
“As a landlord, I’m going to tell you that $15 is not punitive enough to force anyone to pay their rent on time,” said Mayfield. “We have a lot of problems with individuals who don’t want to pay their rent and having the ability to charge a daily late fee actually spurs them to pay their rent.”
The measure passed by a vote of 61-43 and is headed to the Senate for consideration.
There was heated debate when lawmakers took up House Bill 3527 involving school mascots. State Rep. Maurice West’s bill would prohibit schools from using a name, logo, or mascot that is derogatory or representative of a disabled individual or group.
“This is something that is exploiting a community and if there is an inkling of injustice somewhere, there’s a threat to justice everywhere,” said West, D-Rockford.
The particular school that drew West’s ire is Freeburg High School and their mascot the “Midgets”, a community several hundred miles from his district. The school is located in state Rep. Kevin Schmidt’s district, who said the community is proud of the mascot.
“It’s going to blow up,” said Schmidt, R-Millstadt. “It’s not going to have the effect that you want. This is a local issue, the local school board should be voting on it, not the state overreaching.”
The measure passed 71-38 and if passed by the Senate, the law would require schools to adopt a new mascot by Sept. 1st, 2028.
The House also approved the Illinois Sexual Assault Survivor Treatment Act in House Bill 2805 sponsored by House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, which prohibits insurance co-pays for sexual assault exams. The measure now heads to the Senate.
It’s clear that this nation’s safety net has to be stronger so that people like me don’t fall through the cracks.
byMarisa Pesce
OtherWords
Tens of millions of Americans rely on the public assistance programs — like Medicaid, SNAP, housing aid, and more — that Republican leaders are now threatening to gut.
I’m one of them.
My dream is to regain the financial independence I once enjoyed before life and systemic obstacles got in the way. I come from a family with a history of mental illness and domestic abuse, and I’ve suffered through mental health challenges myself.
I’ve always worked hard. After high school, I earned a college degree and found the calling of being a teacher. I earned and paid for my Master’s degree while teaching full time as a high school math teacher. I still struggled with challenges, but life was good. The system had worked. I had a home and was financially independent.
I’ve had to rely on someone who participated in the domestic violence against me to help with rent.
Then, I was the victim of a major, life changing domestic violence event, and my life started to unwind. I had to relocate to another state where I didn’t have a place to call home, my benefits were less, and my mental illness was exacerbated by the isolation and trauma.
Despite the challenges I faced, I was able to find some needed assistance for food and mental health care as I got on my feet.
Also known as “food stamps,” the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was a godsend for helping me put food on the table. Throughout my life both Medicaid and Medicare have helped with mental health treatment, and the Supplemental Security Disability Income (SSDI) program helped keep me out of poverty.
These are precisely the circumstances for which temporary assistance for basic needs like food, housing, and health care exists. But affordable housing was unavailable in my new home state, and SNAP benefits were much lower — even as my food needs stayed the same.
So my debts increased, and I’ve had to rely on someone who participated in the domestic violence against me to help with rent. I have a little income from SSDI, and I volunteer to stay engaged in my calling to teach and help others while I fight to recover from losing my home and my ability to keep up financially.
It’s clear that this nation’s safety net has to be stronger so that people like me don’t fall through the cracks. But House Republicans are currently trying to cut food assistance and other benefits, not strengthen them.
I just want to eat, get better, and afford safe housing so I can get back on my feet, back to financial independence, and back to doing all I can to help my community.
I need more help putting food on the table. But they’re proposing cuts to drastically reduce federal funding for SNAP, expand already harsh working requirements, and change how our need for healthy food is calculated, which is likely to slash benefits. And they’re doing it all to finance $4.5 trillion in tax breaks for corporations and the wealthiest.
I just want to eat, get better, and afford safe housing so I can get back on my feet, back to financial independence, and back to doing all I can to help my community. Yet I and millions like me are nothing but pawns in a political game that aims to hurt us and help those who already have wealth.
When I was teaching, I taught my students about fairness and equality — about what it means to live in a society where we look out for each other, where no one is left to be ill, unhoused, and hungry. I think some politicians need to go back to school, because they seem to have forgotten lessons like these.
So it’s our job to school them. We must let them know that basic human needs are not fair game for getting money for tax cuts for billionaires. Instead, our priorities should be healthy and safe communities for all.
About the author:
Marisa Pesce is a teacher, human rights consultant, anti-poverty advocate, and volunteer with RESULTS from Providence, Rhode Island. This op-ed was distributed by OtherWords.org.
In the early years, staying in other people’s houses felt like an act of rebellion against corporate hotel chains.
by Sonali Kolhatkar
Americans have been on a vacation binge since the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. In particular, the vacation rental company Airbnb is thriving. Late last year, the company posted its highest-ever profits.
Sonali Kolhatkar
Meanwhile cities are seeing rising rents, unaffordable home prices, and increased homelessness. Authorities are now linking these crises in part to Airbnb — and some now are passing strict regulations.
Just as companies like Uber were once touted as a way for working people with cars to earn a little extra spending cash, Airbnb offered the promise of supplementary income for those with an extra room or converted garage.
I’ve rented several Airbnb homes over the 15 years since the company was founded. In the early years, staying in other people’s houses felt like an act of rebellion against corporate hotel chains. The privacy, convenience, and often lower cost enabled tourists with tighter budgets to enjoy family vacations that otherwise might have been unavailable.
Now, however, the market is increasingly dominated by a small number of corporate “hosts” and professional property managers — wealthy elites and corporate entities that scoop up large numbers of properties and turn big profits by renting them out to travelers.
And that’s driving up housing costs for everyone.
Stephanie Synclair, a 41-year-old Black mom from Atlanta, recently made the news for becoming a home-buyer — not in her hometown, but in Palermo, Sicily.
In spite of having a budget of $450,000 — no small sum — Synclair had no luck buying a home in Atlanta, where properties are among the most overpriced in the nation. Atlanta’s housing market is dominated by investors and cash-rich corporations who scoop up practically every home listed at $500,000 or less, many of which are then transformed into Airbnb listings for tourists.
So Synclair now plans to retire in her $62,000 home on the other side of the planet instead.
"Staying in other people’s houses felt like an act of rebellion against corporate hotel chains," Kolhatkar said. Affordable, off-the-beaten path rentals once had their quirky charm until corporations invaded the short-term rental market.
Photo: Theo Rivierenlaan/Pixabay
A 2017 study of New York City by the watchdog group Inside Airbnb concluded that the Airbnb model also fuels racism in the housing market. “Across all 72 predominantly Black New York City neighborhoods,” the group found, “hosts are five times more likely to be white.” But the “loss of housing and neighborhood disruption due to Airbnb is six times more likely to affect Black residents.”
To curb such inequities, New York City, which already had strict rules about short-term rentals and subleases, passed a law in 2023 requiring Airbnb to ensure that hosts obtain permission to rent out housing. If it fails to do so, both the host and the company are hit with hefty fines.
While this means potentially higher hotel costs for out-of-town visitors, it could also free up rentals for long-term residents. According to The Guardian, this may already be happening, just months after the law went into effect in September.
While cheaper vacation stays are certainly desirable for those of us who love to travel, vacationing is a privilege in the U.S. More than a third of Americans, a 2023 survey found, are unlikely to take a summer vacation. And of those, more than half say they simply can’t afford it.
A 2019 Economic Policy Institute study pointed out that “Airbnb might, as claimed, suppress the growth of travel accommodation costs, but these costs are not a first-order problem for American families.” What is a first-order problem is affordable housing.
While regulating Airbnb will not mitigate all economic injustices facing Americans — such as suppressed wages and a lack of government-funded health care — it certainly will move the needle in the right direction.
Sonali Kolhatkar is the host of “Rising Up With Sonali,” a television and radio show on Free Speech TV and Pacifica stations. This commentary was produced by the Economy for All project at the Independent Media Institute and adapted for syndication by OtherWords.org.
OtherWords columnist Farrah Hassen, J.D., is a writer, policy analyst, and educator. This op-ed was distributed by OtherWords.org.
