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Friday, Jun. 13, 2025

Does the typical public housing tenant in the US stay in public housing 12 years?

Tom Kertscher / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch
no

The median stay in public housing in the U.S. is four years, a 2024 study of U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department data found. 

Median means half the tenants in public housing projects stayed more than four years, half stayed less.

The study, by researchers from the universities of Illinois and Kansas, covered 2000 to 2022 and 1 million public housing units. 

The average stay was 14 years, pulled higher by elderly and disabled residents, who tend to stay longer.

Republican U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman, who represents part of eastern Wisconsin, said in May the average is 12 years. 

HUD’s dataset on June 12 showed the average is 12 years. Median was not available.

President Donald Trump has proposed a two-year limit on federal rental assistance for “able-bodied adults.”

Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers proposed more than doubling to $100 million credits available annually for Wisconsin low-income housing developments. Republicans drafting the state budget June 12 excluded that provision.

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