By Tracy Jan, washingpost.com
President Trump’s budget proposal, announced Tuesday, calls for the most dramatic cuts to the Department of Housing and Urban Development since President Ronald Reagan slashed the agency’s funding in the early 1980s and leaves a wide opening for introducing work requirements for people who receive federal housing subsidies.
The impact of the $4.094 trillion budget plan for the fiscal year that begins in October would be felt by poor and working-class Americans across the nation, including seniors, people with disabilities, and working families living in rural and urban communities, as well as the homeless.
In gutting federal funding for affordable housing and neighborhood improvements, the budget essentially kicks responsibility for addressing community revitalization and economic development to state and local governments, as well as charities and the private sector.
“We will work very closely with Congress to support the critical work of our agency as we vigorously pursue new approaches to help work-eligible households achieve self-sufficiency,” Housing Secretary Ben Carson said in a statement Tuesday.