The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) ordered public housing authorities on Friday to conduct “immediate citizenship verification” of tenants or risk losing federal funding.
The demand follows a HUD and the Department of Homeland Security audit that discovered nearly 200,000 tenants receiving taxpayer-funded rental assistance in need of eligibility verification, including some 25,000 “deceased tenants” and about 6,000 “ineligible non-American tenants.”
“We will leave no stone unturned,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a statement.
“Ineligible non-citizens have no place to receive welfare benefits,” Turner added. “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 described citizenship verification as “a major step forward to ensure we put American families first and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.”
“There are hundreds of thousands of American families on housing waitlists across the country,” Hobbs noted. “It is essential we prioritize our limited resources to eligible families only.”
Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) and building owners participating in HUD-funded housing have 30 days “to take corrective action to address these findings.”
HUD warned that “compliance with the new report will be monitored,” and those who fail to verify tenant citizenship may face sanctions including withheld or reduced federal funding.
With HUD funds, PHAs provide subsidized rent to eligible low-income families, the elderly and disabled individuals.
There are approximately 970,000 households living in public housing units managed by some 3,300 PHAs that receive federal funding, according to HUD.
President Trump signed an executive order last February directing HUD and other federal agencies to ensure illegal immigrants are excluded from receiving any taxpayer-funded benefits.
The president argued that the Biden administration “repeatedly undercut the goals” of a federal law that already prohibited illegal immigrants from obtaining most government benefits, “resulting in the improper expenditure of significant taxpayer resources.”
