Carson Backs Off Triple Rent Hike for Poor People

HUD Secretary Ben Carson is backing off plans to triple the minimum rent paid by some of the country's poorest households, citing Congress' move to defy the administration and boost his agency's budget.

The proposal to increase the minimum rent paid by rental assistance beneficiaries is no longer “urgent,” due to the additional resources in the HUD budget, Carson said Friday morning.

HUD in April released a rental assistance overhaul plan that would have hiked the rate paid by some recipients from $50 to $150.

“The reason we had to consider raising rents at all … [was] in order to not displace people who are already being taken care of,” Carson said in remarks at the Bipartisan Policy Center. “Now that the budget has been changed, the necessity for doing that is not urgent.”