New Housing Bill Boosts Service Coordinators, Expands PSLF Eligibility, and Funds Rural Housing Support

The “Expanding Service Coordinators Act of 2025” is a big push to make sure residents in federally assisted housing—especially seniors and people with disabilities—actually have access to the support they need to stay housed and healthy. This bill isn’t focused on building new units; it’s focused on the people who make those units livable: the service coordinators.

The New Mandate: Making Coordinators Mandatory

At its core, this legislation streamlines and expands how federal funds are used to pay for service coordinators, who are essentially social workers embedded in housing projects. These coordinators connect residents with things like health services, job training, or transportation. The bill authorizes a massive $225 million annually from 2026 through 2030 for HUD’s existing service coordinator programs. For owners of Section 202 housing (which serves the elderly and disabled), HUD is required to create a brand-new competitive grant program to specifically fund these coordinator positions (Section 202c). Crucially, the bill prohibits HUD from adding extra administrative hurdles for projects that are already eligible for this funding, which should cut down on the bureaucratic headache for property managers trying to get help.

Professionalizing the Role: Training and Costs

If you own or manage a federally assisted property that takes this funding, there’s a new mandatory annual expense: you must set aside at least $2,500 per year from the grant money specifically for service coordinator training and continuing education. While this makes sense—you want these professionals to be sharp and up-to-date—it is a mandatory line item that projects must now budget for. The coordinator must also report their training hours to the Secretary annually. This is a clear move to professionalize the role and ensure quality, but it does place a concrete $2,500 minimum spending requirement on the property owner.

From Urban LIHTC to Rural Housing

This bill spreads the funding love across multiple agencies. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is tasked with setting up a new program to award 150 grants to pay for service coordinators in Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) properties. This is a big deal because LIHTC properties, which make up a huge chunk of the nation’s affordable housing, often struggle to find consistent funding for supportive services. Separately, the Rural Housing Service gets its own new grant program, authorizing $10 million annually, to fund coordinators in Section 515 rural housing properties. In both cases, the goal is the same: prioritize properties serving the elderly, disabled, or those in persistently underserved rural areas.

PSLF Expansion: Helping the Helpers

For anyone considering a career in this field, Section 3 of the bill offers a significant benefit: it explicitly adds service coordinator employment to the list of jobs that qualify for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). If you’re a coordinator working at one of these eligible properties and you’re carrying federal student debt, your years of service will now count toward having those loans wiped clean. This provision is designed to make these essential, but often low-paying, jobs more attractive and sustainable for people with college degrees.

The Fine Print: Voluntary Services

One critical protection written into the bill is that participation in any service offered by these coordinators must be entirely voluntary for the resident. This ensures that while the resources are available to help residents age in place and stay healthy, no one can be forced to accept services as a condition of their tenancy. This bill represents a significant, five-year commitment of federal funds aimed at stabilizing the lives of the most vulnerable residents in subsidized housing, from cities to the deepest rural areas.