WASHINGTON – Following a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) audit into all tenants across HUD-funded housing nationwide, HUD discovered nearly 200,000 tenants requiring eligibility verification, nearly 25,000 deceased tenants, and nearly 6,000 ineligible non-American tenants.
HUD announced that all Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) and owners participating in HUD-funded housing have 30 days to take corrective action to address these findings.
“We will leave no stone unturned,” said Secretary Scott Turner. “We are proud to collaborate with DHS to execute on the President’s agenda of rooting out abuse of taxpayer funded resources. Ineligible non-citizens have no place to receive welfare benefits. With this new directive and audit, HUD is putting new processes in place to safeguard taxpayer resources and put the American people first.”
“Today’s action to verify the immigration eligibility of all HUD-assisted households is a major step forward to ensure we put American families first and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse,” said HUD Assistant Secretary of Public and Indian Housing Ben Hobbs. “There are hundreds of thousands of American families on housing waitlists across the country. It is essential we prioritize our limited resources to eligible families only.”
This directive is the follow up to a letter HUD sent to PHAs and owners last month reminding them of their legal obligation under Section 214 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980 (Section 214) and President Trump’s Executive Order 14218, Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open Borders, to verify the citizenship and immigration status of all individuals prior to admission to HUD-assisted housing.
HUD Secretary Scott Turner and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem signed the “American Housing Programs for American Citizens” Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) early last year to end the wasteful misappropriation of taxpayer dollars to benefit illegal aliens instead of American citizens. As a result of the MOU, HUD and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) completed, for the first time, an upload of all HUD Section 8 and Section 9 tenant files to Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) for immigration status verification.
Within the next 30 days, PHAs and owners must review their EIV-SAVE Tenant Match Report, verify that they have accurately reported individuals’ citizenship or immigration status to determine eligibility, and initiate corrective actions. PHAs and owners who fail to comply with the established requirements will be subject to sanctions. HUD will recapture funding for payments made on behalf of ineligible and deceased tenants.
Impact on the Undocumented
This mandate is specifically designed to identify and remove individuals who are ineligible for federal housing assistance due to their immigration status.
The primary impacts on undocumented tenants and mixed-status households include:
Immediate Termination of Assistance
- Ineligible Non-Citizens: HUD Secretary Scott Turner has explicitly stated that “ineligible non-citizens have no place to receive welfare benefits”. Tenants identified as undocumented through the new EIV-SAVE Tenant Match Report must face “corrective actions” by housing authorities within 30 days.
- Recapture of Funds: HUD has announced it will recapture funding for any payments made on behalf of ineligible tenants, pressuring local agencies to act quickly to avoid financial penalties.
Risk to “Mixed-Status” Families
- Existing Protections: Under Section 214 of the Housing and Community Development Act, “mixed-status” families (where some members are citizens and others are undocumented) have historically been allowed to remain in HUD housing, though their assistance is prorated to cover only eligible members.
- New Pressures: While the underlying eligibility laws haven’t changed, the Trump administration has previously attempted to end the “mixed-status” rule. Housing advocates warn that the current aggressive verification push may lead to administrative errors or the voluntary departure of families who fear immigration enforcement.
Increased Documentation Requirements
- Proactive Proof: While a signed declaration of citizenship was often sufficient in the past, HUD now strongly encourages housing providers to collect direct physical proof, such as birth certificates, naturalization certificates, or U.S. passports.
- Verification Systems: For the first time, HUD has uploaded all tenant files into the DHS SAVE database to automate the identification of non-citizens across all Section 8 and Section 9 programs.