Compliance
HUD Orders PHAs to Audit Residents’ Immigration Status
The directive has the potential to uproot mixed-status families.
On Aug. 29, HUD Secretary Scott Turner sent a written directive ordering public housing authorities to audit their residents and render a “full and comprehensive accounting” of any immigrants without permanent legal status who are leasing or sharing a household in the property. PHAs that fail to furnish HUD the requested information within 30 days risk losing their federal funding. Here’s a look at the HUD directive and what it portends.
The Policy Context
On Feb. 19, 2025, the president issued an executive order directing federal agencies to ensure that taxpayer-funded benefits don’t go to undocumented immigrants. The HUD directive is the most recent application of that policy to the realm of federally assisted housing. “Currently, HUD only serves one out of four eligible families due, in part, to the lack of enforcement of prohibition against federally funded assistance to illegal aliens,” the HUD directive contends.
Who’s Affected?
The HUD directive applies to the more than 3,000 PHAs in the U.S. that participate in federal housing assistance programs. Of course, it also affects the residents who will be subject to HUD-ordered PHA scrutiny, including Section 8 recipients. This might not seem like a big deal because residents already have to provide proof of American citizenship or eligible immigration status to be eligible for Section 8 vouchers and other HUD housing assistance. However, the point of the HUD directive is to ensure that PHAs are enforcing the rules and not allowing any undocumented immigrants to slip through the cracks, especially since PHAs will have to report any undocumented immigrant residents they find.
“No longer will illegal aliens be able to leave citizenship boxes blank or take advantage of HUD-funded housing, riding the coattails of hardworking American citizens,” states the directive.
What Does the HUD Directive Require?
The “full and comprehensive accounting” HUD is demanding must include not only proof of American citizenship and eligible immigration status but also:
- Recipients’ names and mailing addresses;
- The rental unit’s number of bedrooms; and
- The rental unit’s cost.
Failure to comply could result in “an examination of HUD funding and/or evaluation of PHA program eligibility,” Turner wrote on social media.
Impact & Perspective
One of the biggest concerns about the HUD directive is its potential to uproot mixed-status families in which residents who are in the U.S. legally share a household with one or more undocumented immigrants. While such arrangements may be legally problematic, HUD has historically prioritized family cohesion and stable, affordable housing. In placing paramount importance on legal immigration status, the HUD directive reverses that policy.
Critics also worry about the privacy implications of requiring PHAs to audit the immigration status of their own residents. Privacy advocates also point to the data-sharing agreement that HUD recently signed with the Department of Homeland Security to help identify ineligible tenants. Now the agency seems to be enlisting PHAs in the business of collecting and disclosing personal information to enforce immigration laws.
