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TRUMP PLAN ACCELERATES ASSAULT ON SECTION 8 AND PUSHES MILLIONS
TOWARD EVICTION  
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Alexis Sterling
September 24, 2025
Nation of Change
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_ Advocates warn that new HUD demands, looming funding cuts, and
potential work rules could dismantle Housing Choice Vouchers and upend
low-income households nationwide. _

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The Trump administration is escalating its efforts to dismantle
federal rental assistance, targeting the Housing Choice Voucher
Program—commonly known as Section 8—through budget cuts, new
eligibility requirements, and sweeping administrative directives. The
changes could displace millions of households, including families with
children, seniors, disabled tenants, and low-wage workers.

The Housing Choice Voucher Program is the largest federal rental
assistance initiative, serving approximately 2.3 million low-income
households across the country. According to data cited by USAFacts,
the program provides stable housing to 2.7 percent of U.S. residents.
Nearly a quarter of those living in subsidized housing have a
disability, 33 percent of households include minor children, 74
percent are headed by women, 41 percent are headed by people over the
age of 62, and 66 percent are headed by people of color.

HUD Secretary Scott Turner has taken a confrontational approach,
demanding that more than 3,000 Public Housing Authorities (PHAs)
nationwide turn over detailed tenant information, including proof of
citizenship, names, addresses, and unit details. Turner warned,
“D.C. Housing Authority is on notice—we are demanding all
citizenship information for residents. We are telling the same to the
more than 3,000 Public Housing Authorities across the country. The
taxpayer-funded vacation is over.” He added, “Whether you like it
or not, we will uphold the law to its fullest extent. If you are here
illegally, it’s time to pack your bags.”

Proof of citizenship or eligible immigration status is already
required for federal rental assistance, but HUD’s directive
threatens PHAs with funding reviews if they fail to comply within 30
days. Advocates warn the data demand could sow fear among mixed-status
households and immigrant families who already face barriers in
accessing housing aid.

Beyond immigration enforcement, the administration is advancing a rule
that would impose work requirements and time limits across federal
housing programs. Deborah Thrope, deputy director of the National
Housing Law Project, explained that the rule originated from the
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs rather than HUD, a break
from the standard rulemaking process. “We still don’t know the
details of what they’re proposing or what time limit on residency
they’re recommending, but we expect it to be between two and five
years,” Thrope said. “We also expect the rule to require
‘able-bodied’ people under the age of 62 to work at least 20 hours
a week if they are not already doing so. As advocates, we know that
this is a way to cut benefits since almost everyone who can work is
already working. It also imposes onerous paperwork on local agencies
that will have to monitor compliance.”

She further noted that the administration might bypass the traditional
public comment process altogether: “This time, it seems possible
that Trump will completely undercut this process by declaring a
housing emergency under the ill-defined National Emergencies Act of
1976.”

The proposals reflect priorities laid out in the Heritage
Foundation’s Project 2025, which called for slashing Medicaid, SNAP,
and housing subsidies, eliminating the Housing Opportunities for
Persons with AIDS Program, removing undocumented people from
subsidized households, and repealing the Fair Housing Act. Turner’s
language echoed this agenda when he declared, “the taxpayer-funded
vacation is over.”

Donald H. Whitehead Jr., executive director of the National Coalition
for the Homeless, described the administration’s agenda bluntly.
“This is a war on the poor. We have seen almost every decision this
administration has made favor those at the top of the economic ladder,
whether it’s about education, housing, or immigration,” he said.
Whitehead pointed out that work rules are recycled policy: “The
government keeps going back to this tired and faulty playbook.”

That playbook has already failed. In 1996, 39 housing authorities
mandated work programs for recipients. The initiative was expanded in
2016 under the Moving to Work program, but by 2022 most agencies had
abandoned it. HUD’s own literature conceded that “literature
documenting outcomes of work requirement policies in other federal
government programs reveals few, if any, beneficial outcomes and
several negative outcomes for program participants.” When examining
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, HUD admitted the program had
“failed to help families achieve financial independence” and had
driven a rise in “deep poverty.”

Still, the Trump administration is pushing further. The president’s
FY2025 budget proposal would slash HUD’s discretionary budget by 51
percent from its $89.1 billion level, effectively halving rental
assistance. For FY2026, the administration proposes replacing federal
vouchers with state formula grants capped at two years for most
recipients, with limited exceptions for elderly and disabled tenants.
The White House framed the change as empowerment for states: “The
Budget empowers States by transforming the current Federal
dysfunctional rental assistance programs into a State-based formula
grant which would allow States to design their own rental assistance
programs based on their unique needs and preferences.”

Independent analyses warn of dire consequences. The Center on Budget
and Policy Priorities projected that more than 3.3 million
people—including 1.7 million children and 2 million households with
at least one working adult—would be put at risk of eviction and
homelessness. The group noted that “even working full-time at 40
hours per week, nearly half of all workers in the U.S. are not paid
wages high enough to rent a modest one-bedroom home.” Rental
assistance, it added, “helps people afford a stable home, which
makes finding and keeping a job easier, improves health and
educational outcomes, reduces the use of emergency services, and keeps
children in their homes and families together.”

Families already struggling say they cannot withstand the blow.
Lynette, a Bronx resident and certified nursing assistant, explained,
“I work as a certified nursing assistant and pay $1050 for a
two-bedroom unit. The full rent is $3885. My daughters, ages 3 and 12,
and I were homeless for 8 months, and I am working hard, going to
school to become a registered nurse, raising my children, and working
at a demanding job. I’m trying to come out of poverty. Losing the
subsidy would set us back and impact me emotionally as well as
financially.”

Janet, a resident of Florence, Kentucky, described her daughter and
grandchildren’s dependence on Section 8. “My 39-year-old daughter
has migraines and mood swings but does not receive SSI or Disability
benefits,” she said. “Her children, a 16-year-old son with autism,
asthma, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and speech apraxia,
and a 13-year-old daughter with anxiety and a severe speech
impediment, get benefits totaling $1813 a month. They also receive
$267 a month in child support. Their rent is $859, which is manageable
since they also get SNAP and Medicaid, but if they lose their Section
8, all of our lives will be a roller coaster. I get paid to care for
my 88-year-old mother. If my daughter and her kids have to move in
with me, it will mean I have to find a new apartment, and go from
paying $850 a month to probably $2400 a month because we’ll need
such a big space.”

Tenant advocates stress that these cases are representative of a
broader crisis. Benjamin Finegan of Bozeman Tenants United pointed to
corporate landlords profiting off subsidized housing while tenants
remain vulnerable. “Corporations own buildings meant to provide
housing to low-income people and buy up these properties and then
invest as little as possible to maximize their profits,” Finegan
said. “We need to fight for more resources to protect people from
displacement and homelessness and build a robust tenant movement.
Long-term, we need social housing, but in the short term, we need to
fight for affordable housing, federal support, and build tenant
power.”

Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture of the Philadelphia Tenants Union connected the
current assault on housing assistance to a longer history of
resistance to federal equity efforts. “I came of age during the
turbulent 1960s and 1970s, when the Southern segregationist slogan of
states’ rights was their way of pushing back on federal laws to
promote justice, fairness, and equality,” she said. “Wages are
stagnant and do not keep up with the cost of housing, childcare and
food. Gasoline and transportation costs continue to go up. Public
housing and Section 8 are being threatened and may be in shorter
supply within the next decade. This will make poverty worse. I can
only hope that the housing justice movement continues to do grassroots
organizing, political education, research, and lobbying to make the
idea of housing as a human right a reality.”

With Congress due to return September 2 and face a September 30
deadline to finalize federal funding, the fight over Section 8 is
approaching a critical moment. Housing justice organizers are
preparing for what many describe as a historic confrontation over
whether safe and stable shelter will remain a public commitment or
become another casualty of austerity politics.

_Alexis Sterling is a seasoned War and Human Rights Reporter with a
passion for reporting the truth in some of the world's most tumultuous
regions. With a background in journalism and a keen interest in
international affairs, Alexis's reporting is grounded in a commitment
to human rights and a deep understanding of the complexities of global
conflicts. _

_At NationofChange, our mission is to help people create a more
compassionate, responsible, and value-driven world, powered by
communities that focus on positive solutions to social and economic
problems. We strive to accomplish this mission through FEARLESS
JOURNALISM combined with BOOTS-ON-THE-GROUND ACTIVISM in order to
create real-world, actionable strategies for change._

* Department of Housing and Urban Development
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* affordable housing
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* Section 8
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* Evictions
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