April 17, 2026

 

As our nation continues to face a deep housing affordability crisis, federal housing and community development programs remain essential to ensuring access to safe and stable housing. We appreciate the bipartisan effort behind the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act and the commitment to addressing this urgent need. However, we urge Congress to continue improving the bill by removing provisions that reduce flexibility and increase administrative burden.

The undersigned organizations – who collectively represent nearly all of the nation’s more than 3,300 public housing authorities – call for the removal of Section 504 of the bill.

Section 504, as currently written, would limit the flexibility that has made the Moving to Work (MTW) program a measurable success. MTW agencies rely on administrative flexibility to design locally responsive policies while maintaining accountability through existing plans and reporting to HUD. This provision would reduce policy options for new MTW agencies and impose additional reporting requirements beyond those required of non-MTW agencies, undermining the program’s effectiveness.

We urge Congress to carefully consider these concerns and remove Section 504 from the final legislation to preserve the flexibility that allows MTW agencies to best serve their communities.

 

Signees:

Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA)

MTW Collaborative

National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials (NAHRO)

Public Housing Authorities Directors Association (PHADA)