Sponsors (15)
Removes an old prohibition that limited housing assistance for certain students and gives the Secretary authority to waive rules so some college students can receive tenant‑based housing help. The waiver applies to students enrolled in higher education who live in institution‑maintained on‑campus housing and who either were in foster care or were legally emancipated as minors; that housing assistance is excluded from several federal income calculations (for student aid, certain cooperative education and national service living allowances, and child support).
Strike paragraph (1) of Section 327(a) of the Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, the District of Columbia, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006 (Public Law 109–115; 119 Stat. 2506).
Redesignate paragraphs (2) through (6) of Section 327(a) as paragraphs (1) through (5), respectively (i.e., renumber the remaining paragraphs after the deletion).
Authorizes the Secretary to waive any requirement under subsection 8(o) to provide tenant-based assistance to an individual who meets the criteria described in this new paragraph.
Criterion (i): The individual must be a student enrolled in an institution of higher education, as defined in section 101(a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, including the institutions described in section 102(a)(1)(A) and (B) of that Act.
Criterion (ii): The individual must live in an on-campus student housing facility maintained by the institution of higher education.
Who is affected and how:
Students formerly in foster care or legally emancipated as minors: Direct beneficiaries. If they live in institution‑maintained on‑campus housing and meet enrollment criteria, they can receive tenant‑based housing assistance that otherwise might have been barred. Because that assistance cannot be counted as income under certain federal rules, these students are less likely to lose or have reduced eligibility for other supports (federal student aid, cooperative education earnings determinations, some national service living allowances, and child support computations).
Institutions of higher education: May need to coordinate with housing agencies and program administrators to verify on‑campus housing status and to help students access the waiver‑based assistance. Administrative workload could increase modestly for verification and referral.
Public housing agencies (PHAs) and HUD: HUD (or the Secretary) will need to issue guidance and adopt waiver procedures; PHAs will implement tenant‑based assistance under the new rule. Administrative changes and potential small increases in voucher issuance or portability requests are possible.
Federal student aid and benefit administrators: Must treat waiver assistance as excluded from specified income/resource calculations per the bill; systems and guidance may need updates to ensure compliance.
Families, child support recipients, and custodial parties: Child support calculations that rely on income/resource rules must exclude the waived assistance, which could affect support amounts in some cases.
Overall fiscal and operational impact is likely modest and targeted: the bill removes an eligibility barrier and permits existing housing resources to reach a narrowly defined vulnerable population, without authorizing new spending or broad regulatory shifts. The major implementation tasks are administrative (rulemaking, guidance, verification) rather than large budgetary actions.
Last progress June 12, 2025 (8 months ago)
Introduced on June 12, 2025 by Greg Landsman
Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.