“Brooke Amendment” is the common name for section 213 (a) of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1969 (Public Law 91-152) that was sponsored by Senator

Edward Brooke III Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5 ...

(R-MA), which capped rent in

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

projects at 25% of tenant's income. It amended section 2(1), paragraph two, of the US

Housing Act of 1937 The Housing Act of 1937 (), formally the "United States Housing Act of 1937" and sometimes called the Wagner–Steagall Act, provided for subsidies to be paid from the U.S. government to local public housing agencies (LHAs) to improve living cond ...

, and was enacted on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

, 24 December 1969. The Brooke Amendment became the first instance of the benchmark to measure housing affordability, which became known as the "30 percent rule of thumb" in 1981 when the 25 percent cap was raised to 30 percent of tenant income. Senator Brooke advocated for two other subsections that were enacted in the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1969. Section 213 (b) gives the Secretary of

Housing and Urban Development The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It administers federal housing and urban development laws. It is headed by the Secretary of Housing and Ur ...

(HUD) authority to revoke the 25 percent cap if it results in a reduction of total welfare assistance. Section 213 (c) amends section 14 of the

to ensure the "low-rent character of public housing projects" by fixing annual contract contributions according to the current Federal rate of interest. Together, the three subsections can be referred to as the "Brooke Amendments", although the pluralized term is less common. One consequence of this amendment has been an increase in poorer families performing work for cash, which has perpetuated cycles of poverty.

References

1969 in American law Public housing in the United States 91st United States Congress {{law-stub