READING, Pa. — Concerns were raised Monday night at the Oakbrook Neighborhood Resource Center.
“If you impose work requirements, then you’re punishing the children for the parent not doing what they’re supposed to be doing,” one community member said.
Reading is considering what could become a major change to public housing.
“This is the first time in many, many years that housing authorities have had the ability to influence their public housing programs at the local level,” said Stacey Keppen, CEO of the Reading Housing Authority.
Here’s what’s happening: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is considering a rule that would give local housing authorities new choices.
“Possible local choices: work requirements, time limits, neither or both,” Keppen said.
In Reading, that could mean requiring some adults who are able to work to have a job or participate in approved activities. Or limiting how long some households can receive public housing assistance.
Older adults and people with disabilities would be exempt. And this is important: None of this is happening yet.
“If this proposed rule becomes a final rule, and we as a housing authority can make some decisions about time limits and work requirements for public housing, there’s a possibility that it could free up available housing in response to the housing crisis,” Keppen said.
For now, the housing authority isn’t choosing work requirements or time limits. It’s asking the community whether either one belongs here at all.