HUD Data Request Raises Fears of Housing Instability for Immigrant Families
Teh Department of housing and Urban Advancement (HUD) is requiring public housing authorities to provide data on the immigration status of all residents, sparking concerns among housing advocates that the move will discourage immigrant families from accessing vital housing assistance and potentially lead to increased homelessness.
The request, flagged by several housing groups including the National Housing Law Project, demands information on tenants’ citizenship and eligibility for public benefits. Advocates fear this will create a “chilling effect,” as described by Gonzalez Rice, leading housing authorities to restrict access to housing for eligible families with immigrant members, even if they are legally entitled to assistance.
“Even if the information requested [by HUD] is the kind of information that’s already shared, there’s this message that’s being communicated that there will be additional scrutiny or additional asks of housing authorities,” Gonzalez Rice explained. “It could translate into housing authorities deciding that they don’t want to serve any immigrant families or eligible families with immigrant members.”
Concerns extend to families and tenants themselves, as well as property managers and housing agencies, who may feel compelled to limit program access to protect themselves and their programs, exceeding legal requirements. Marie Claire Tran-Leung, eviction initiative project director at the National Housing Law Project, criticized the directive, stating, “Rather than address sky-high rents, increasing evictions, and record homelessness, Trump and turner are forcing public housing authorities to divert their limited resources away from affordable housing and towards wasteful policy designed to cause fear and hardship among immigrant families and scare them into self-evicting.”
supporters of the HUD measure argue the agency is acting within the law by ensuring that public benefits are only utilized by those with appropriate legal status. According to Glock, the focus is highly likely on deportations rather than lease terminations, and the move aligns with existing law prohibiting HUD from providing housing benefits to noncitizens, notably those without legal status.
“If I where to guess, they’re looking more at deportations than actually breaking leases in this case,” glock said. He added that ending the “mixed-status rule” – allowing households with both citizens and non-citizens to receive assistance – would be consistent with decades of Congressional support for restricting benefits to non-citizens.
However, Glock emphasized that immediate evictions would be inappropriate. “How [HUD] implements this rule will really demonstrate whether or not the removal of noncitizens is done in a humane fashion,” he stated. He clarified that while stopping new housing benefits for individuals without citizenship is “entirely justifiable,” ending existing leases or immediately displacing residents would not be.
The HUD directive echoes the Trump administration’s “public charge” rule, which denies green cards, visas, or admission to the U.S. to immigrants deemed likely to become dependent on government benefits. The implementation of this latest policy, and its impact on vulnerable populations, remains to be seen.
