Chapter 15 · pp. 503–516 ·
Benjamin S. Carson, Sr., MD
What this chapter is about
This chapter is about housing help from the government. It says the help traps people in poverty. It wants work rules and time limits added. It also wants people who are not citizens barred from public housing.
The document says “should”Who acts: HUDHow: regulationp. 509 in the PDF
What the document says
“The Office of the Secretary should recommence proposed regulation put forward under the Trump Administration that would prohibit noncitizens, including all mixed-status families, from living in all federally assisted housing.”
A mixed-status family is one in which some members are eligible for assistance and some are not. The chapter says the department's statutory obligations include housing American citizens in need, asks for alignment with immigration-related reforms elsewhere including the public charge framework, and says local welfare organizations rather than the federal government should provide housing welfare for noncitizens.
What the document actually says
“The Office of the Secretary should recommence proposed regulation put forward under the Trump Administration that would prohibit noncitizens, including all mixed-status families, from living in all federally assisted housing.”
That sentence, in plain words
Restart the rule from the last Trump term. It would keep noncitizens out of assisted housing.
What this is about
Some families have members who can get housing help and members who cannot. The book says the whole family should be barred. It wants a rule from before brought back.
Read against the documents indexed here on August 26, 2026, and nothing was found that answers this. EO 14218 directs every agency to identify federally funded programs that let illegal aliens obtain a benefit and to align them with the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. It is aimed at people unlawfully present rather than at all noncitizens, it names no housing program, and it does not recommence the HUD rulemaking the proposal asks for, which would reach lawfully present noncitizens and the mixed-status families they live in. The candidate rules rescind Energy Department nondiscrimination regulations, not housing eligibility rules. That is a record of a search, not a finding that nothing has happened: an act this site does not hold, or one that answers the proposal in words unlike its own, would not be caught by it.
The document says “should”Who acts: HUDHow: regulationp. 509 in the PDF
What the document says
“end Housing First”
Housing First provides permanent housing without preconditions such as treatment or sobriety. The chapter asks that it end so that the department prioritizes mental health and substance abuse issues before what it calls jumping to permanent interventions in homelessness.
What the document actually says
“end Housing First”
That sentence, in plain words
End the policy called Housing First.
What this is about
Housing First gives people a home right away. It does not ask them to get treatment first. The book says treatment should come first instead.
Section 5(a) of EO 14321 directs the Secretaries of Health and Human Services and of Housing and Urban Development to end support for housing first policies that deprioritize accountability and fail to promote treatment, recovery and self-sufficiency, and section 5(b) directs HUD to increase requirements that participants with substance use disorder or serious mental illness use treatment as a condition of participation. That is what the passage asks. The order directs the agencies to act as appropriate and to the extent permitted by law rather than changing a rule itself, and it sets the directive among civil commitment, encampment removal and grant conditioning measures the proposal does not ask for.
In plain English
An order tells the health and housing agencies to stop backing housing first policy. It also tells them to require treatment as a term of taking part. That is what the passage asks. But it gives a direction rather than changing a rule, and it adds steps the passage did not ask for.
The document says “should”Who acts: HUD, CongressHow: regulationp. 509 in the PDF
What the document says
“implement maximum term limits for residents in PBRA and TBRA programs”
The chapter asks the department to restrict eligibility where admission would fail to encourage upward mobility, to reduce what it calls the implicit anti-marriage bias in housing assistance, to strengthen work and work-readiness requirements, and to cap how long residents can stay in project-based and tenant-based rental assistance. It says Congress should also legislate against provisions that discourage work and marriage.
What the document actually says
“implement maximum term limits for residents in PBRA and TBRA programs”
That sentence, in plain words
Set a cap on how long people can stay in these programs.
What this is about
Rental help has no time limit now. The book says there should be one. It also wants people to work to keep the help.
Read against the documents indexed here on August 26, 2026, and nothing was found that answers this. Public Law 119-101 touches the subject without doing what the passage asks. Section 803 orders a study of work requirements already in place at Moving to Work agencies, subject to a finding that the study would not harm low-income families, and section 505 lets up to 25 more agencies join that demonstration while barring fourteen of the existing waivers for the new group. Neither imposes a work requirement or a maximum term of assistance in project-based or tenant-based rental assistance, and nothing in the law addresses the marriage penalty the chapter names. That is a record of a search, not a finding that nothing has happened: an act this site does not hold, or one that answers the proposal in words unlike its own, would not be caught by it.
The document says “should”Who acts: HUDHow: internal managementp. 508 in the PDF
What the document says
“HUD political leadership should immediately assign all delegated powers to politically appointed PDAS, DAS, and other office leadership positions”
The chapter asks that current career leadership positions be changed into political and non-career appointments, and that Senior Executive Service transfers be used to install what it calls motivated and aligned leadership. It says implementing its reforms simply requires courageous political leadership across the department's appointed positions.
What the document actually says
“HUD political leadership should immediately assign all delegated powers to politically appointed PDAS, DAS, and other office leadership positions”
That sentence, in plain words
Give all these powers to political staff. Do it at once.
What this is about
Career staff hold many senior jobs here. The book says political staff should hold them. Their powers would move over right away.
Read against the documents indexed here on August 26, 2026, and nothing was found that answers this. EO 14317 creates Schedule G in the excepted service for noncareer positions of a policy-making or policy-advocating character, which is a route to appointing aligned leadership. Its implementation section names only the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, it converts no HUD position, and it neither reassigns delegated powers to political appointees nor directs the Senior Executive Service transfers the passage asks HUD leadership to make. That is a record of a search, not a finding that nothing has happened: an act this site does not hold, or one that answers the proposal in words unlike its own, would not be caught by it.
The document says “should”Who acts: PresidentHow: executive orderp. 508 in the PDF
What the document says
“The President should issue an executive order making the HUD Secretary a member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.”
The chapter frames this as gaining broader oversight to address foreign threats, particularly from China, over foreign ownership of real estate in both rental and ownership markets for single-family and multifamily housing, noting the value of real estate secured across the department's portfolio.
What the document actually says
“The President should issue an executive order making the HUD Secretary a member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.”
That sentence, in plain words
Sign an order putting the housing chief on this committee. It reviews foreign buyers.
What this is about
A committee checks when foreign buyers want American assets. The book says the housing chief should join it. The worry is who owns American homes.
Section 739 of Public Law 119-37, enacted November 12, 2025, provides that the Secretary of Agriculture shall be included as a member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States on a case by case basis for each covered transaction involving agricultural land, agriculture biotechnology or the agriculture industry, and requires that Secretary to notify the committee of agricultural land transactions believed to pose a national security risk, with particular emphasis on acquisitions by foreign governments or entities of concern including the People's Republic of China. That is the same mechanism the passage asks for, adding a Cabinet secretary to the committee to reach foreign acquisition of American real property. The fit breaks down on the particulars: the member added is the Secretary of Agriculture and not the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the reach is farmland and the agriculture industry rather than the rental and ownership housing markets, membership is case by case rather than standing, and it was done by a provision of an appropriations act rather than by the executive order the passage asks the President to issue.
In plain English
A law of November 12, 2025 adds the farm secretary to the panel that screens foreign deals. The seat is case by case, for deals on farm land or the farm trade. That is the same tool the passage asks for. But the passage asked for the housing chief, for the housing market, and for an order from the President.
The document says “should”Who acts: President, CongressHow: not specifiedp. 511 in the PDF
What the document says
“a conservative Administration should oppose any efforts to weaken single-family zoning”
The chapter says localities rather than the federal government must have the final say in zoning, that legislation should give states and localities maximal flexibility and minimize federal preemption of local land use decisions, and that freedom of association and self-government at the most local level must remain primary considerations.
What the document actually says
“a conservative Administration should oppose any efforts to weaken single-family zoning”
That sentence, in plain words
Push back on any move to weaken single-family zoning rules.
What this is about
Some areas allow only one house per lot. That is single-family zoning. Some want it loosened to build more homes. The book says to resist that.
Read against the documents indexed here on August 26, 2026, and nothing was found that answers this. No indexed action opposes efforts to weaken single-family zoning. EO 14394 is the nearest: it directs HUD to promulgate regulatory best practices for state and local governments, including allowing by-right development for single-family homes, capping permitting timelines and fees, and removing urban growth boundaries and growth moratoria. It promotes single-family construction rather than defending single-family zoning, and it issues federal best practices on local land use, which sits against the chapter's ask that federal preemption be minimized. Public Law 119-101 runs the other way on the same question: section 107 requires HUD guidelines recommending by-right duplex through quadplex building and the elimination of restrictions on accessory dwelling units, while barring any adverse action against a state or locality that declines to adopt them. That is a record of a search, not a finding that nothing has happened: an act this site does not hold, or one that answers the proposal in words unlike its own, would not be caught by it.
The document says “should”Who acts: HUDHow: internal managementp. 509 in the PDF
What the document says
“The AS or PDAS for the Office of Policy Development and Research should suspend all external research and evaluation grants”
The proposal sits among the chapter's immediate administrative actions, alongside a task force to identify and reverse prior actions and a review of subregulatory guidance issued outside the Administrative Procedure Act.
What the document actually says
“The AS or PDAS for the Office of Policy Development and Research should suspend all external research and evaluation grants”
That sentence, in plain words
Pause all outside research grants from this office.
What this is about
This office pays outside experts to study housing. The book says those grants should stop.
Executive Order 14332 of August 7, 2025 requires each agency head to designate a senior appointee responsible for a process to review new funding opportunity announcements and discretionary grants, and provides that until that process is in place agencies shall not issue any new funding opportunity announcements without prior approval from that appointee, except as required by law. It also requires annual review of discretionary awards by a senior appointee. That is the same shape as the passage: a political appointee halting new external awards pending review. The fit breaks down in that the halt runs only until the review process is in place rather than suspending anything outright, it reaches new funding opportunity announcements rather than grants already awarded, it applies to every agency and names neither the Department of Housing and Urban Development nor its Office of Policy Development and Research, and it does not single out research and evaluation grants.
In plain English
An order of August 7, 2025 tells each agency to name a senior aide. Until a review plan is in place, new grant notices need that aide's sign off. That is the shape the passage asks for. But the halt ends once the plan is set, it misses grants already made, and it names no one agency.
Benjamin S. Carson, Sr., MD, “Department of Housing and Urban Development,” in Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, edited by Paul Dans and Steven Groves (The Heritage Foundation, 2023), pp. 503-516. https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
This page
“Department of Housing and Urban Development,” Project 2025, chapter 15. Read the Mandate, https://readthemandate.org/project-2025/chapter-15/ (retrieved October 7, 2026).
Cite the document when the claim is about what the document says. Cite this page when the indexing, the wording or the record of what has happened is what is being relied on.
What This Page Covers, and What It Leaves Out
Recommendations on political control of the department, program eligibility, work requirements and time limits, homelessness policy, mortgage insurance, and zoning.
The chapter's office-by-office staffing arrangements and its detailed treatment of public housing agency finance.
This is one of the shorter chapters in the book and several of its proposals are stated compactly, without the surrounding argument that longer chapters give.
