Earned Income Disregards
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid - 050020
Abstract Number: 050020
November 2005
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA) filed several lawsuits in Texas state courts to ensure that the Housing Authority of Austin implemented the Earned Income Disregard (EID), a federal law providing rent incentives encouraging public housing residents and disabled Section 8 recipients to obtain employment or increase job skills through training programs. Rent for public housing residents is determined through a formula based on a family's income. For the purpose of rent calculations, the EID temporarily disregards new income resulting from new employment, new job training, or other increase in job skills. EID benefits are available to public housing residents, disabled Section 8 recipients, disabled participants in the HOME Investment Partnership Program, disabled participants in HOPWA, and disabled participants in the Supportive Housing Program.
To ensure that public housing residents are receiving the benefit of this law, TRLA attorneys and paralegals are expected, as a matter of course, to review the facts of each case, irrespective of the type of housing law problem the client faces, to determine the client's eligibility for the EID.
TRLA also represented a resident of the Luling Housing Authority who had been evicted by the courts for nonpayment of rent and eventually entered into a settlement agreement to resolve the appeal in the case. TRLA discovered that the Housing Authority had failed to implement the EID and thus had illegally increased the client's rent after she obtained employment. The Housing Authority rescinded the eviction, reduced the client's rent, and refunded to her the rent she had over-paid. In addition, as part of the agreement, information was provided to each resident about the EID to ensure that they were aware of this law enacted by Congress.
The EID can be critically important. When it is properly implemented, tenants get the benefit of the earned income and can move toward self-sufficiency. In nonpayment of rent eviction cases, the client's eligibility for the EID must be checked. If the local housing authority or the landlord under one of the other covered programs has failed to give the tenant the benefit of the EID, the tenant can avoid the eviction, obtain a reduced rent, and obtain a rent refund.
To learn more, visit the National Housing Law Project's "Earned Income Disregard (EID) Packet for Public Housing Voucher Program" through the link below which includes sample complaints filed by TRLA.
Contact Information:
Fred Fuchs
Texas RioGrande Legal Aid
2201 Post Road, Suite 104
Austin, Texas 78704
Phone: (512) 447-7707, ext. 311
Fax: (512) 447-3940
ffuchs@trla.org
Additional Information:
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