New Congressional Bill Would Let People Use Marijuana In Public Housing Without Being Evicted

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) have filed a
bill in Congress to allow people living in federally assisted housing to
use marijuana in compliance with state laws without having to fear losing
their homes.

Under current policy, people who live in public housing are prohibited from
using controlled substances in those facilities regardless of state law,
and landlords are able to evict them. The new bicameral legislation—titled
the “Marijuana in Federally Assisted Housing Parity Act”—would change that.

The bill would provide protections for people living in public housing or
Section 8 housing from being displaced simply for using cannabis in states
that have legalized it for medical or recreational purposes.

Norton has filed similar versions of the proposal over recent sessions, but
the reform has yet to be enacted. Booker joined Norton in sponsoring the
legislation last Congress as well.

“Tenants should not be discriminated against, evicted, or denied federally
assisted housing for legally using marijuana or treating a medical
condition in states where it is permitted,” Booker said in a press release
on Wednesday. “The Marijuana in Federally Assisted Housing Parity Act would
end these discriminatory practices and ensure tenants are not punished for
personal choices made in accordance with state law.”

The bill would further require the head of the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development (HUD) to enact regulations that restrict smoking
marijuana at these properties in the same way that tobacco is handled.

“Individuals living in federally funded housing should not fear eviction
simply for treating their medical conditions or for seeking a substance
legal in their state,” Norton said. “Increasingly, Americans are changing
their views on marijuana, and it is time that Congress caught up with its
own constituents. With so many states improving their laws, this issue
should have broad bipartisan appeal because it protects states’ rights.”

Marijuana is legal in 40 states, yet people in federally funded housing can
still be evicted for using it.

I introduced a bill with @SenBooker to fix this and align federal law with
the 90% of Americans who support legal medical marijuana.
pic.twitter.com/tR0ZjTyXYT

— Eleanor #DCStatehood Holmes Norton (@EleanorNorton) December 17, 2025

In 2018, a Trump administration official said that she was working to
resolve conflicting federal and state marijuana laws as it applies to
residency in federally-subsidized housing, but it’s not clear what came of
that effort.

Norton sent a letter to HUD in 2021 that implored the department to use
executive discretion and not punish people over cannabis in legal states.
In response, the President Joe Biden’s HUD secretary told the congresswoman
that it is statutorily required to continue denying federally assisted
housing to people who use marijuana, even if they’re acting in compliance
with state law.

Booker and Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-FL) filed a bill last year to
repeal a decades-old federal statute that’s led to the denial of housing
for millions of people with prior drug convictions.





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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) also raised the issue during a
committee hearing in 2019, pressing former HUD Secretary Ben Carson on
policies that cause public housing residents and their families to be
evicted for committing low-level offenses such as marijuana possession.

Ocasio-Cortez and then-Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) also filed legislation
that year that would protect people with low-level drug convictions from
being denied access to or being evicted from public housing.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) also introduced an affordable housing bill in 2020
that included a provision to prevent landlords from evicting people over
manufacturing marijuana extracts if they have a license to do so.

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Housing Without Being Evicted appeared first on Marijuana Moment.