Sponsor
Sylvia Garcia
Representative · D-TX
Representative · D-TX
The bill would produce timely, mixed-methods evidence and resident perspectives to better inform MTW work-requirement policy, but HUD's discretion to delay or decline the study and the potential resource burden mean the promised evidence may not materialize or could divert capacity from direct services.
Low-income families and public-housing residents will get empirical evidence on how HUD's Moving to Work (MTW) work requirements affect homelessness, poverty, earnings, and job retention, informing better program design and potential policy changes.
HUD and Congress (and other policymakers) receive a required, timely report (within one year) that can guide oversight and near-term policy decisions about MTW work requirements.
Participants and resident councils will be interviewed qualitatively, so resident perspectives and administrative challenges that quantitative data may miss will be surfaced to inform implementation and equity considerations.
Because HUD may proceed only if it finds enough participating agencies and determines the study won't harm families, the evaluation could be delayed or declined, leaving low-income families, residents, and Congress without the empirical evidence needed to assess MTW work requirements.
Carrying out the study could consume HUD staff time and resources (unless separately funded), potentially diverting capacity from direct services, compliance oversight, or other programs that serve low-income households.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires HUD to study outcomes and implementation of MTW public housing agencies' preexisting work requirements and report initial findings to Congress within one year, subject to feasibility and non-harm determinations.
Official title: To direct the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to conduct a study on the implementation of work requirements by public housing agencies, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 19, 2026 by Sylvia Garcia · Last progress May 19, 2026
Requires the Department of Housing and Urban Development to conduct a conditional, time-limited study of work requirement policies implemented by Moving to Work (MTW) public housing agencies that adopted such requirements before this law. The study must assess short-, medium-, and long-term effects on participants and agencies (including homelessness, poverty, earnings, job outcomes, asset building, and administrative capacity), include quantitative and qualitative evidence and interviews, and deliver initial findings to the House Financial Services Committee and Senate Banking Committee within one year of enactment if HUD determines a rigorous, non-harmful study is possible.