Controversial Law Requires Public-Housing Residents to Volunteer

A federal law that requires public-housing tenants to volunteer at least 96 hours a year is often poorly enforced and regulated, according to a broadcast report by The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer.

Under the law, able-bodied residents of public housing ages 18 to 62 who aren’t working or studying full-time must volunteer at least two hours a week or face eviction.

But tenants often find it difficult to arrange child care or transportation. And though the requirement has been in place since 1998, housing authorities can find themselves short-staffed, overworked, and underfinanced, which can lead to arbitrary or inconsistent enforcement, the report said.

“What needs to be done, probably the law has to be changed in a way that housing authorities can enforce it, or it should be given to somebody that’s equipped to do it, or they should give us the money to do the program right,” said Sal Carpio, director of Denver’s housing authority.