National Housing Law Project Urges HUD to Withdraw Cruel and Unlawful Proposal to Evict Immigrant Families from Hud Housing

WASHINGTON D.C.—The National Housing Law Project (NHLP) today urged Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to withdraw its proposal to evict families with mixed immigration status from HUD housing. The proposed rule will also jeopardize the housing of other HUD tenants by imposing a flawed system for verifying citizenship. Over 20,000 families would be at risk of eviction of separation and displacement under the proposed rule. Of the nearly 80,000 people in those households, nearly half are children, and most of those children are citizens. 

“The proposed rule is part of the current administration’s campaign to scapegoat immigrants for a housing crisis that’s only worsened under its watch. HUD’s own analysis of the proposed rule confirmed that fewer people, including citizens, will receive housing assistance under the policy. Secretary Turner’s misleading claims obscure the proposal’s true intent: to undermine the federal housing programs,” the National Housing Law Project wrote in a comment to HUD.

In a comment, NHLP urged HUD to withdraw its proposal for the following reasons:

• In prohibiting mixed status families from living in HUD housing, the proposal contradicts  federal law and subverts the intent of Congress to allow mixed status families to live together while providing them with a reduced housing subsidy that covers eligible family members;
• The proposal will worsen the housing crisis by forcing public housing authorities and project owners to displace families and, in the absence of those families, make hard funding choices, such as offering fewer vouchers or letting units sit vacant;
• The proposal will harm immigrants and citizens alike, which HUD has not adequately considered:
  • Forcing families with mixed immigration status to separate or leave HUD housing;
  • Creating a chilling effect among immigrant families who may forego HUD housing despite being eligible;
  • Breaking up multigenerational households and burdening older adults who lack ready access to their documentation;
  • Denying housing to people protected by the Fair Housing Act;
• The proposal will put millions of U.S. citizens at risk of losing their housing by requiring:
  • Verification of their citizenship status through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlement (SAVE), a faulty system that has misidentified citizens as noncitizens in the voting context; 
  • Submission of burdensome documents proving their citizenship status – even though 9% of citizens nationally lack ready access to these documents;
• The proposal will hurt public housing authorities and project owners by:
  • Diverting scarce funding and staff time from providing affordable housing to displacing families and taking on immigration enforcement functions contrary to their mission.

Instead of this badly conceived rule, NHLP recommended that HUD work with Congress to make significant new investments in the federal housing programs to ensure every family, regardless of immigration status, has a safe and affordable home. 

HUD’s proposal is part of the Trump administration’s attempts to exploit the housing crisis to scapegoat immigrants, undermine the federal housing programs, and spread fear amongst lawfully present immigrants, families with mixed immigration status, and the communities that welcome them. HUD’s own regulatory impact analysis estimates that as a result of the proposal, the number of citizens and eligible immigrants who would receive HUD assistance would decrease, contrary to HUD’s stated goal of the proposal. 

Read NHLP’s full comment to HUD here.