Office of Public and Indian Housing PIH

The Housing Act of 1937, signed on September 1, 1937, created the federal public housing program, funding local housing authorities to build and run apartments for low-income families. The Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 created the Section 8 program, which grew into Housing Choice Vouchers that help tenants rent privately owned homes. The Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 replaced older tribal programs with block grants run by tribes. The office is led by the Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing.

PIH works through about 3,300 local public housing agencies, which own roughly 900,000 public housing apartments and administer vouchers for about 2.3 million households. Voucher holders generally pay about 30 percent of their income in rent, with the subsidy covering the rest up to a local limit. The office also funds repairs and redevelopment, including the Rental Assistance Demonstration begun in 2012, which converts aging public housing to privately financed Section 8 contracts, and it distributes block grants for housing on tribal lands.

Only about a quarter of eligible low-income renters receive federal rental help, so waiting lists are long, and much of the public housing stock faces billions of dollars in deferred repairs. The administration's 2026 budget request proposed converting rental assistance into a state-run block grant with deep cuts and a two-year time limit for many able-bodied adults. Supporters said time limits and work expectations would encourage self-sufficiency and give states flexibility, while housing advocates and many local agencies warned of evictions and rising homelessness.