HUD's Proposed Rule Would Displace 55,000 Children

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published a proposed rule on the Federal Register this week that attempts to verify the eligibility status of people receiving housing assistance from the federal government—i.e., tightening regulations against undocumented immigrants.

HUD Secretary has said the rule is necessary to "make certain our scarce public resources help those who are legally entitled to it."

According to analysis of the proposed rule by Tracy Jan for The Washington Post, a lot of people who are legally entitled to public resources will lose assistance as a result of the rule change. In fact, the agency's own analysis, as printed in the proposed rule, admits that "half of current residents living in households potentially facing eviction and homelessness are children who are legally qualified for aid."

"Current rules bar undocumented immigrants from receiving federal housing subsidies but allow families of mixed-immigration status as long as one person — a child born in the United States or a citizen spouse — is eligible. The subsidies are prorated to cover only eligible residents."

The new rule would require every member of the household to be "of eligible immigration status."

"Approximately 25,000 households, representing about 108,000 people, now living in subsidized housing have at least one ineligible member, according to the HUD analysis," according to Yan. 55,000 of that total are children.

Yan points out that the effect of the proposed rule would be contrary to the Trump administration's goals for shortening the waiting lists for housing assistance. A Twitter thread by Diane Yentel, CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, also digs into the effects of the proposed rule, as described HUD's own documentation of the proposed rule.