HUD indefinitely delays HOME tenant protections and subsidy rules

HUD published Federal Register notice 2026-08339 on April 29, 2026, indefinitely delaying the effective dates for two provisions of the HOME Investment Partnerships Program final rule that had been set to take effect April 30. The delay applies to revisions to 24 CFR 92.250, covering maximum per-unit subsidy amounts, underwriting standards, and subsidy layering requirements, and to 24 CFR 92.253, covering tenant protections and tenant selection procedures. HUD stated the delay is now indefinite and that it will imminently publish a proposed rule opening those same provisions to public comment.

This was the fourth time these two provisions have been delayed since the HOME final rule was first published on January 6, 2025. The provisions were originally set to take effect February 5, 2025, then delayed to April 20 under the Trump administration's regulatory freeze, then to October 30, 2025, then to April 30, 2026, and now indefinitely. The prior three delays had specific target dates; the April 29 action eliminated any future effective date and converted the regulatory path into a new rulemaking.

The HOME Investment Partnerships Program was created by the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act of 1990 and is administered by HUD's Office of Community Planning and Development. The program provides annual federal block grants totaling approximately $1.5 billion to more than 1,200 participating jurisdictions, including all 50 states, the 🏛️District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and hundreds of cities and counties. Jurisdictions use HOME funds to build, rehabilitate, or purchase affordable rental housing, provide tenant-based rental assistance, and support homeownership for low-income households.

The January 2025 HOME final rule was the result of a multi-year rulemaking process that included a 2023 proposed rule with a public comment period. The rule was intended to modernize HOME regulations that had not been comprehensively updated in decades, addressing affordability periods, community housing development organization requirements, property standards, and tenant protections. Most provisions of the rule took effect on schedule; only the two provisions addressing subsidy calculations and tenant protections remain delayed.

The tenant protections provision under 24 CFR 92.253 is the more politically contested of the two delayed sections. Under the January 2025 final rule, HOME-funded rental projects would have been required to include leases with good-cause limitations on terminating tenancy, anti-retaliation protections, and the right for tenants to organize. The National Apartment Association and landlord advocacy groups had publicly opposed these provisions, arguing they would increase administrative burden and reduce the incentive for private developers to participate in HOME-funded projects.

Housing advocacy organizations including the National Low Income Housing Coalition and LeadingAge had supported the tenant protection provisions as major improvements for low-income renters in federally assisted housing. NLIHC noted that HOME-funded rental housing serves some of the lowest-income households in the country, and that good-cause eviction protections would provide basic stability guarantees that many tenants in HOME units currently lack under state law.

The 24 CFR 92.250 provision covers maximum per-unit subsidy amounts, underwriting requirements, and subsidy layering analysis. The January 2025 final rule updated the per-unit subsidy limits to better reflect current construction costs and fair market rent data, and revised the subsidy layering process that governs how HOME funds interact with other federal financing sources like Low Income Housing Tax Credits. Without these updates in effect, participating jurisdictions operate under older subsidy calculation frameworks that may underestimate costs in high-cost housing markets.

The National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials noted that the delayed provisions create planning uncertainty for jurisdictions that want to use HOME funds for projects combining multiple financing sources. Subsidy layering analysis is a required step before HUD approves HOME commitments in projects that also receive federal tax credits or other federal assistance, and the outdated standards can create mismatches between HUD's subsidy calculation methods and those of other federal programs.

The Federal Register notice was signed by RJRonald J. Kurtz, the Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development, making him the senior HUD official of record for the action. HUD Secretary STScott Turner has pursued a broader deregulatory agenda at HUD since taking office, including halting enforcement of the Obama-era Equal Access Rule on gender identity in housing programs in April 2026 and restructuring the Continuum of Care homelessness program in July 2025. BHBryan Horn, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development since June 2025, oversaw the HOME program administration during this period.

The indefinite delay was accompanied by a statement that a proposed rule will be published imminently, which signals that HUD intends to reopen the tenant protection and subsidy provisions to full notice-and-comment rulemaking rather than letting the Biden-era provisions take effect. This approach allows the current administration to rewrite the provisions without first formally repealing them, avoiding the procedural burden of a separate repeal rulemaking while achieving the same outcome.

Participating jurisdictions that anticipated using the updated 92.253 tenant protections as part of their program design must continue operating under existing lease and tenant selection requirements. For jurisdictions that had begun updating their HOME program administration forms, leases, and training materials in anticipation of the April 30 effective date, the indefinite delay requires pausing those implementation efforts without a clear timeline for when — or whether — the provisions will ultimately take effect in their original form.

The Housing Assistance Council, which advocates for rural housing programs, noted that rural jurisdictions face particular challenges with the HOME program's administrative requirements. Rural communities often administer HOME with limited staff, and repeated delays in regulatory clarity add administrative burden. The indefinite status is particularly difficult for small jurisdictions that rely on HUD guidance documents to train staff and update program policies.

An indefinite delay paired with a new proposed rulemaking is a recognized administrative law strategy sometimes called 'regulatory substitution.' Rather than following the notice-and-comment repeal process required to formally revoke a final rule, an agency delays the rule's effective date until it can complete a replacement rulemaking, effectively achieving the repeal outcome without ever having to defend the repeal on its merits in the comment record. Courts have sometimes allowed this approach under the Administrative Procedure Act if the agency provides adequate notice, though the strategy has been challenged in litigation.

The Trump administration used similar indefinite delay tactics across multiple agencies in 2025 and 2026 for Biden-era rules it opposed but had not formally repealed. The HUD HOME delay is part of that broader pattern, which includes indefinite delays of EPA rules, FTC consumer protection rules, and SEC disclosure requirements. Housing advocates can challenge indefinite delays in federal court if they can show the delay is arbitrary or that the agency lacked good cause to bypass the notice-and-comment process for the delay action itself.