A proposed Department of Housing and Urban Development rule would crack down on illegal immigrants or unqualified people living in public housing, closing a loophole established amid major departmental reforms under President Bill Clinton in 1996.
Current HUD rules allow “mixed-status” households to use public housing under what is called the “do not contend” provision, in which a person living among a public housing family can declare they “do not contend” their HUD eligibility under their immigration status, and the family instead receives prorated housing assistance.
The HUD-ineligible family member or members may remain in public housing so long as the family accepts their diminished subsidies, according to reports.
The new HUD rule, proposed this week under Secretary Scott Turner, would eliminate the option for residents to say they “do not contend” and instead require every member to verify citizenship or prove eligible noncitizen status to continue receiving housing assistance.
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The proposed rule would not categorically prohibit noncitizens from public housing, but those remaining would have to prove they are eligible for taxpayer-funded assistance.
While illegal immigrants would be barred, green-card holders are fully eligible under federal housing law.
People admitted to the U.S. under official refugee or asylee status also remain eligible, as well as individuals whose DHS order of removal is being legally withheld due to threat of personal harm in their home country.
Cuban emigres who have fled the Communist dictatorship 90 miles off Key West have also historically been considered eligible, as have certain foreign domestic violence or trafficking victims.
Turner’s proposal, however, would guarantee that all people living in HUD-funded housing are eligible under statute.
The long-standing HUD Act of 1980, which the Clinton-era reforms adjusted, already prohibits HUD from providing financial assistance to ineligible noncitizens, and Turner’s reforms would make the prorated assistance option temporary instead of indefinite, pending eligibility verification.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, the days of illegal aliens, ineligibles, and fraudsters gaming the system and riding the coattails of American taxpayers are over,” said Turner, a former Washington Redskins cornerback.
“HUD’s proposed rule will guarantee that all residents in HUD-funded housing are eligible tenants. We have zero tolerance for pushing aside hardworking U.S. citizens while enabling others to exploit decades-old loopholes.”
Turner wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that previous administrations “turned a blind eye” to enforcing these types of HUD laws and policies.
“Liberal officials at both the federal and state level purposefully blurred and weakened the law by allowing some applicants for HUD assistance to simply sign a declaration of citizenship without requiring any documentation or proof,” he said in one example.
Critics of the change, however, said HUD’s efforts are going to lead to families being booted from public housing.
“Our country can ensure that every one of us, no matter where we come from or what language we speak, has a safe home,” National Housing Law Project executive director Shamus Roller told the Associated Press.
“Trump is trying to evict immigrant families, citizen and noncitizen, from HUD housing.”
Roller’s colleague Sonya Acosta told the wire service that the new policy would wrongly force an “agonizing choice between losing the assistance that helps [families] pay rent every month or separating their family.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
