BILL ANALYSIS
By: Menendez
Defense Affairs & State-Federal Relations
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Currently, US Housing and Urban Development rules require that the non-taxable basic allowance for quarters, provided to US Military members when on-base housing is not available, is required to be included as income for subsidized low-income affordable housing applications. At the same time, government vouchers for Section 8 housing to non-military families is not considered income. These vouchers are essentially the same as the basic allowance for quarters provided to military families.
The inclusion of the military allowance in a low income housing application oftentimes disqualifies the military family from low-income housing, even though taxable income levels are the same as the civilian counterpart. There is currently a Congressional Resolution being prepared for sponsorship in Congress to address this discrepancy. HCR 28 is intended to compliment this effort in order to reverse the HUD rules affecting military families.
ANALYSIS
HCR 28 urges Congress to amend the Housing and Urban Development Act to prohibit the inclusion of the military basic allowance for housing as income for purposes of determining eligibility for federally assisted low-income housing programs.