No EID for Tenants of Rural Development Housing

Earned income disallowance (EID) is a work incentive that is available to persons with disabilities who receive housing assistance through certain programs administered by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). With EID, all or some of the person’s income from working is not counted (for a period of up to 24 months) when determining his or her rental payment. For details on EID, see the blog article dated March 3, 2008.

Some persons with disabilities receive rental assistance as tenants of Rural Development multi-family housing complexes. One such complex is Jamestown Village in Jamestown, North Dakota. Rural Development housing complexes are not associated with HUD. Instead, they are funded by the Housing and Community Facilities Programs, an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Unlike the HUD regulations, the regulations of USDA do not provide for an earned income disallowance. Therefore, all of the non-exempt earned income of a tenant of a Rural Development housing is counted in figuring the amount of his or her rental payment. However, even without EID in the Rural Development rental assistance program, the tenant’s rental payment may not exceed 30 percent of his or her combined unearned and earned income.

Any questions may be directed to: rsi5@srt.com