The executive order mandates enforcement of existing work requirements and proposal of new ones within 90 days While the news media has been engrossed this week in the FBI?s raid on Michael Cohen?s office, potential military action in Syria, and House speaker Paul Ryan?s retirement, President Trump quietly issued an executive order that could lead to additional work requirements for those receiving housing subsidies.
Dubbed the ?Reducing Poverty in America by Promoting Opportunity and Economic Mobility? executive order, the directive mandates that multiple federal agencies, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), enforce existing work requirements and propose new ones within the next 90 days.
Work requirements, long a staple of the conservative vision for welfare programs and rumored to be coming to HUD programs for months, stipulate that those who receive federal subsidies such as Section 8 housing vouchers work a certain number of hours before qualifying for the subsidy. While Trump?s EO doesn?t set a specific policy, the implication is clear?the president wants tougher rules on people of limited means who need assistance with housing. ?Work requirements don?t work,? said Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, in a statement. ?They do not create the jobs with decent pay and opportunities needed to lift people out of poverty. Instead, imposing such requirements could cut struggling families off from the very hou...