Number: RS21591
Title: Community Service Requirement for Residents of Public Housing
Authors: Maggie McCarty, Specialist in Housing 
Abstract: HUD did not issue regulations to implement the community service provisions of QHWRA until March 29, 2000.3 The regulations took effect beginning on October 1, 2000,4 and were in effect for just over one year. Language added to the FY2002 VA-HUD appropriations bill (P.L. 107- 73),5 which was enacted in November 2001, prohibited HUD from using any FY2002 funds to enforce the community service and self-sufficiency requirements, except for residents of HOPE VI developments.6 The suspension of the provision ended when the FY2003 appropriations bill (P.L. 108-7) was signed into law on February 21, 2003. HUD issued new guidance to the local public housing authorities (PHAs) who administer public housing on June 20, 2003, instructing them to reinstate the community service requirement for public housing residents beginning on August 1, 2003. Specifically, PHAs were required to notify tenants of the requirement by July 31, 2003 and assure that all residents were in compliance by October 31, 2003. The implementation of the requirement was retroactive, meaning that tenants who were not in compliance when the provision was implemented in 2000 were required to make up their previous missing hours in order to be considered in compliance.
Pages: 4
Date: January 17, 2009