The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is cracking down on government-funded housing in the U.S. by ordering the “immediate” verification of citizenship for all tenants across HUD-funded housing, the agency announced on Friday.
The call to action, the agency said, was prompted by a recent audit — conducted by HUD and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — that showed nearly 200,000 tenants required eligibility verification, nearly 25,000 were deceased and nearly 6,000 were ineligible as “non-American tenants.”
The agency is giving all Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) and owners of HUD-funded housing 30 days to take action, according to a press release.
“We will leave no stone unturned,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a statement. “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.”
HUD Assistant Secretary of Public and Indian Housing Ben Hobbs also characterized the move as a way to put Americans first while conserving resources.
“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,” Hobbs said in the statement. “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.”
HUD explained that the directive is a follow up to a letter the agency sent to PHAs and owners last month. The letter reminded recipients of their duty to verify citizenship and immigration status of individuals before admitting them into HUD housing, according to Section 214 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980 and Executive Order 14218 by President Trump.
The timing of the announcement also coincided with tense protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in Minneapolis. On Friday, hundreds of local businesses in the Twin Cities shuttered their doors to unite in protest of the federal immigration crackdown that has taken place in the area for about the last six weeks.
Last year, HUD and DHS signed the American Housing Programs for American Citizens memorandum of understanding to curb the number of non-citizens who might be benefitting from HUD offerings. With the agreement, HUD provided the Incident Command Center (ICC) with a staff member to facilitate data sharing.
PHAs and owners will need to review their Enterprise Income Verification “EIV-SAVE” Tenant Match Report, a HUD system that verifies resident information and income, in the next 30 days in order to ensure residence compliance with eligibility requirements, and “initiate corrective actions” if residents are not eligible for HUD housing. The press release warned that those PHAs and owners who do not comply will be subject to sanctions.
