“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 (R-MA), which capped rent in

public housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

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 United States federal government to local public housing agencies (LHAs) to ...

, and was enacted on

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. Christmas Day is observance of Christmas by country, observed around the world, and Christma ...

, 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 u ...

(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.

References

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