The Department of Housing and Urban Development is leaving its Section 3 benchmarks unchanged, in a notice scheduled to publish in the Federal Register on Monday, October 5, 2026. The benchmarks are the share of labor hours on HUD-funded housing and community-development work that HUD expects to go to low- and very low-income workers.
What Section 3 requires
Section 3 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, as amended by the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992, directs HUD to steer employment and other economic opportunity created by federal housing and community-development funding, "to the greatest extent feasible," toward low- and very low-income people, particularly those who already receive federal housing assistance. HUD enforces this through regulations at 24 CFR part 75.
The numbers, unchanged
This notice does not restate the percentages itself. It says only that the goals "will continue to be the ratios established in the original Section 3 benchmark Notice" — the 2020 notice, which it cites at 85 FR 60907. That notice set the benchmark for "Section 3 workers" at 25 percent or more of total labor hours on covered work, and the benchmark for a narrower group, "Targeted Section 3 workers," at 5 percent or more. The same two numbers apply to a public housing agency's own fiscal-year labor hours and to an individual "Section 3 project." Who counts as a Targeted Section 3 worker differs between the two: for public housing work, people such as public housing or Section 8 residents, or YouthBuild participants.
Who it covers
Public housing agencies and other recipients of public housing financial assistance, and recipients, contractors and subcontractors on Section 3 projects. The 2020 notice describes those projects as housing rehabilitation, housing construction and other public construction where HUD's assistance exceeds $200,000 ($100,000 for Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes grants).
Why no change
HUD says the labor-hour data collected so far is not representative enough to justify adjusting the targets. Compliance only began for projects funded on or after July 1, 2021, and many larger projects funded since then have not finished construction or reported final hours. Separately, the reporting system for public housing agencies only opened January 21, 2026, with the last agencies' reporting window closing July 30, 2026.
The dates
The copy filed for public inspection prints no dates. Its DATES line reads "Effective [INSERT DATE 30 DAYS AFTER DATE OF PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER]. The public comment period for the Notice published in the Federal Register is [INSERT DATE 60 DAYS AFTER DATE OF PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER]." Measured against the scheduled October 5 publication, that is an effective date of November 4, 2026 and a comment period closing December 4, 2026 — both by this desk's count, off a publication that has not happened. The Federal Register's own record for the October 5 issue gives the same two dates. Note which is which: the notice takes effect a month before comments on it close. The document is typed a "Rule" in the Register's index, though its ACTION line calls it a "Notification of benchmark updates and request for comments" and its text calls it a Notice.
What it does not say
Neither this notice nor the one it continues states what happens to a recipient that misses a benchmark. The 2020 notice ties meeting the benchmarks, plus certifying to an effort requirement, to a "safe harbor": a presumption that the recipient complied with Section 3, "absent evidence to the contrary." This notice gives no address or online portal for submitting comments, only Docket No. FR-6622-N-01 and a contact phone number and email.