Housing Secretary Ben Carson plans to raise rents for people receiving federal housing assistance. The move is touted as an incentive for these renters to find jobs, but it would put the poorest workers at an increased risk of homelessness because wages haven’t kept pace with housing expenses, according to an analysis from Center on Budget and Policy Priorities given to The Associated Press.
In the Baton Rouge metro, the plan would increase public housing rents 23.9%, or $820 a year, and would affect 48% of the area’s children. The New Orleans-Metairie metro would see a similar increase, with rents going up 20.4%, or $810 a year, affecting 46% of the metro’s children.
According to the analysis, Carson’s plan would increase rents for low-income tenants in the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas by about 20%—around six times greater than the growth in average hourly earnings. The analysis also shows that families would be disproportionately impacted. Of the 8.3 million people nationwide affected by the proposal, more than 3 million are children.
