California lawmakers have sent Gov. Gavin Newsom a bill that would make the state the first in the nation to expressly forbid local housing agencies from imposing work requirements or time limits on people who receive federal rental assistance. The California Legislature approved the measure in August, and Newsom has until September 30 to sign or veto it.
The bill, Assembly Bill 2128, would add Section 34336 to the state Health and Safety Code, according to the National Housing Law Project, which sponsored the legislation. It was authored by San Francisco Assemblymember Matt Haney, and as reported by Times of San Diego, California is currently the only state to pass legislation prohibiting work requirements and term limits on U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development assistance, and the only state proactively pushing back against efforts to push low-income tenants out of federally subsidized homes.
What HUD's Proposed Rule Would Actually Do
The fight centers on a rule change unveiled by HUD Secretary Scott Turner earlier this year. Under the proposal, local public housing agencies and private project-based voucher landlords would gain discretion — not a mandate — to require non-disabled adults ages 18 to 61 to work up to 40 hours a week and to impose assistance time limits as short as two years, according to the Davis Vanguard. Per Times of San Diego, HUD's proposed changes would not require local housing agencies to adopt those rules, but would permit them to.
Turner has said housing assistance should serve as a temporary foundation for self-sufficiency, according to the same report. The proposal has also drawn support in Congress, with the article noting that it aligns with other policies enacted by the Republican-led Congress under President Trump's direction. HUD has the authority to finalize the proposed rules on its own, per Times of San Diego, and has also denied funding for clean-energy efforts in California and elsewhere, the outlet reports.
A National Coalition Signs On
Alongside the proposed rule, HUD launched a national Work and Dignity Coalition to help housing authorities implement work mandates, and more than 100 public housing agencies had joined by August, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. The Housing Authority of Champaign County and the Vermilion Housing Authority were the first two agencies to sign on, per the same brief.
The proposal would also let housing providers require non-disabled tenants who claim medical frailty or disability to submit physician documentation annually, a shift from current rules that document disability status only at initial entry, according to the Urban Institute. Researchers there warn the added paperwork often leads to administrative terminations for low-income tenants who face healthcare access barriers.
Rare History of Work Mandates in Public Housing
Work requirements and time limits in public housing are not new, but they have historically been limited to agencies participating in HUD's Moving to Work demonstration program. Only 17 of 124 participating agencies had actually instituted work requirements as of January 2024, according to Ballotpedia, illustrating how rarely local authorities chose to use that flexibility even when it was available.
Research cited by the Congressional Research Service and HUD indicates that rigid work requirements and time limits in safety-net programs do not consistently increase long-term employment and frequently increase economic precarity, per the National Housing Law Project. Housing advocates argue that stable shelter is itself a foundational requirement for keeping and finding a job, not simply a reward for having one. A Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis found that 65% of non-elderly, non-disabled households receiving HUD vouchers were already working or had recently worked in 2024, according to Times of San Diego.
Advocates Warn of Homelessness Risk
Lila Gitesatani said the HUD proposal could push people who already have jobs into homelessness, according to Times of San Diego. She said work requirements and time limits do not work, and separately said such requirements at publicly funded safety-net programs do not improve recipient outcomes. Gitesatani also warned that because housing agencies and private operators rely on HUD for funding, that dependence could create significant political pressure on providers to opt into work requirements and term limits even without a federal mandate forcing their hand.
Nineteen states and the District of Columbia wrote to Turner in May opposing the proposed HUD plan, per Times of San Diego. Newsom himself criticized a related Republican plan last year to cut Medicaid and food-stamp funding and condition eligibility on work and requalification requirements. Separately, Medicaid recipients, who previously requalified for benefits once a year, will be required to requalify twice annually and document their work hours beginning in 2027.
San Diego's Waitlist Already Strained
The policy debate lands hardest in high-cost regions like San Diego, where the local Housing Commission provides Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers to more than 16,000 low-income households representing over 35,000 residents, according to the San Diego Housing Commission. More than half of those recipient households consist of seniors or people with disabilities.
Citing severe funding constraints, the commission closed its Section 8 waiting list in February after it grew to more than 76,000 applicants, while projecting a $16.9 million gap between HUD allocations and local assistance costs for the fiscal year, according to KPBS. Under federal guidelines, vouchers primarily target households earning 50% or less of the area median income, with tenants typically paying 30% of their adjusted income toward rent while the housing authority covers the remainder up to standard limits.
Hoodline reported last month that voucher access boosted student retention in a separate local program, underscoring how much is riding on the outcome as HUD may still implement the rules and pressure local housing authorities to comply, regardless of what California decides. For now, the question of whether AB 2128 becomes law rests with Newsom, who has until the end of the month to act.
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