HUD proposal could force immigrant families to choose between housing and staying together
Advocates warn new verification rules and eligibility changes could displace tens of thousands of mixed-status families, including U.S. citizen children.
When federal immigration agents showed up at one Bay Area housing site, staff refused to let them in.
“We have had ICE show up at our locations and we’ve not let them in,” said Steve Good, CEO of Five Keys, a nonprofit that provides supportive housing across California. “That’s a bigger threat right now.”
The fear of immigration enforcement together with reports of agents approaching or attempting to access residential spaces, is now colliding with a proposed federal housing rule that advocates say could make families even more vulnerable.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is considering changes that would effectively bar mixed-status households from receiving rental assistance unless every member is deemed eligible. A mixed-status family is comprised of both citizen and non-citizen members. Under current policy, those families can remain together while receiving reduced, or prorated, assistance based on eligible household members. Ineligible members are not counted toward the subsidy and pay their full share of rent.
If implemented, the proposal could force families into what housing advocates describe as an impossible choice: separate or lose their homes.
“You can either kick someone out, or you all have to leave,” said Liz Ryan Murray, director of strategic campaigns at Public Advocates, a nonprofit law and advocacy organization. “Families would be placed in an impossible situation.”
According to HUD, the proposal is intended to ensure that housing assistance is directed only to eligible recipients, U.S. citizens and permanent residents. The agency claims that roughly 24,000 ineligible residents currently live in HUD-assisted housing.
But housing policy experts say that framing is misleading. Under existing rules, ineligible household members already do not receive federal housing subsidies. Instead, families receive partial assistance, with those ineligible members paying their full share of rent.
“The premise that ineligible household members can receive rental assistance under current HUD rules is simply false,” the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), a nonprofit focused on expanding affordable housing for low-income households, said in a statement. “Mixed-status families, on average, pay more toward their rent than other assisted families.”
The proposed rule would eliminate that long-standing system and impose stricter documentation requirements for all tenants. U.S. citizens would be required to provide passports or birth certificates if verification systems fail. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), a U.S. think tank analyzing the impacts of federal and state government budget policies, there are 3.8 million U.S. citizen adults who lack proof of citizenship, and 17.5 million cannot easily get these documents.
The potential impact
The CBPP estimates that nearly 80,000 people could lose rental assistance under the proposed changes, including about 37,000 children, the vast majority of whom are U.S. citizens.
“These families are all subsidizing the system,” Murray said. “And we’re going to lose units.”
Data also shows the policy would disproportionately affect families of color and households with children. Nearly three-quarters of impacted families live in California, Texas, and New York, according to policy analysts.
There are also concerns about the administrative burden of enforcing the rule. Housing agencies could be required to reverify immigration status for large numbers of tenants within tight timelines, a process industry groups say may be difficult or even impossible to carry out.
Murray warned that beyond displacement, the rule could create cascading risks. “We see people are getting picked up regardless of their immigration status,” she said, referring to actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). “People will become unhoused, which means they won’t have a safe place to be when ICE and CBP come around.”
Housing advocates say the proposal comes at a time when rental assistance is already scarce. NLIHC warned the rule could reduce the number of families served even if funding remains the same. “If HUD’s proposed rule changes take place, HUD will serve fewer families with the same funds because mixed-status families, on average, pay more toward their rent than other assisted families,” the organization said.
“There just isn’t enough subsidy out there for housing costs,” said Murray. “Only about one in four people who qualify for a Section 8 voucher are able to get one,”
Uncertainty on the ground
For housing providers, the proposal raises both logistical and ethical questions.
“The current proposal is not impacting us right now,” Good said. “It’s hard for me to imagine reporting someone- or evicting someone- because of their status.” Even without the rule in effect, some families may choose to leave on their own out of fear, advocates say, a phenomenon known as “self-eviction.”
“If someone were self-evicting, we would work with them,” Good said. “If the proposal goes through, we will absolutely continue to look for a way to work with these folks.” Advocates warn that fear alone could drive families away from housing they are legally entitled to.
“We can expect similar fears from the chilling effect,” said Kayla Blackwell of NLIHC, noting that past proposals led some families to avoid assistance altogether. She says the last thing we want is for residents to do the work of the administration by self-evicting when they don’t need to.
The proposed rule is currently open for public comment through April 21 and must go through a formal review process before any changes take effect. For now, existing rules remain in place, and mixed-status families can continue living together in federally assisted housing.
Advocates are urging tenants to understand that their rights have not yet changed. “Mixed-status families still have a right to live together,” NLIHC said. “Anyone facing eviction or threats should seek legal guidance.”
For many families, however, the uncertainty itself is reshaping housing, once a source of stability, into another point of risk.