HUD Struck a Data-Sharing Agreement With Immigration Enforcement. What Does it Mean for NYC?

In line with advocates who spoke with Metropolis Limits, the memorandum is one more effort by the Trump administration to focus on immigrants and doesn’t represent a foundation for eviction.

On March 24, the U.S. Division of Housing and City Growth (HUD) announced a partnership with the Division of Homeland Safety (DHS), which is able to create “a point of contact” between the 2 federal businesses to share information about undocumented immigrants residing in government-subsidized housing.

“By working more closely together and with greater collaboration, we will identify illegal aliens who are ineligible for Federal housing assistance and take remedial measures to end this waste and abuse, including referral for immigration enforcement actions,” reads the Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU.

However native officers are thus far not sure of what the memo, dubbed “American Housing Programs for American Citizens,” means for his or her businesses and town’s sanctuary legal guidelines.

Undocumented persons are already prohibited from receiving federal housing subsidies straight. Eligibility for federal housing help is restricted to U.S. residents and non-citizens with a qualifying immigration standing, comparable to a lawful everlasting resident (often known as a “green card” holder), refugee or asylee, amongst others, based on advocates and town’s Division of Housing, Preservation and Growth (HPD). 

Immigrants who don’t qualify, nevertheless, can reside in a family that receives a federal subsidy so long as different members of that family qualify, with the quantity of assist primarily based on the variety of people who find themselves eligible. 

As an example, if an immigrant with out authorized standing resides with U.S born kids who qualify, the family would obtain a smaller subsidy and pay the next portion of the lease to take the ineligible member of the family under consideration. This is named prorated assist.

“Their assistance is already pro-rated to only cover eligible household members,” the Alliance for Housing Justice, a nationwide advocacy group, stated in a statement last week in response to the memo, saying HUD Secretary Scott Turner is “misrepresenting how his agency’s programs actually work.”

“This isn’t about program integrity—it’s about surveillance, fear, and falsely blaming immigrant families for the failures of a housing system that puts profits over everyday people,” the group stated.

A HUD spokesperson stated that “the purpose of the MOU is to establish information sharing between HUD and DHS to ensure illegal aliens are not in public housing,” however didn’t elaborate.

In line with Anna Luft, mission director of the New York Authorized Help Group’s Public Housing Justice Venture, the memorandum applies to all HUD-subsidized housing, together with Part 8—often known as the Housing Choice Voucher Program, which supplies rental help to low- and moderate-income households—and public housing authorities that run such packages.

In New York Metropolis, there are three main public housing authorities: The New York Metropolis Housing Authority (NYCHA), which administers a Part 8 program as effectively Part 9 public housing developments, HPD, and the Division of Housing and Neighborhood Renewal (DHCR), which is a part of the the state’s inexpensive housing company, New York State Houses and Neighborhood Renewal (HCR).

Solely HPD stated it falls throughout the scope of the MOU. A NYCHA spokesperson stated, “NYCHA is not a party to this MOU,” regardless of being the most important public housing company within the metropolis. An HCR spokesperson didn’t specify what the MOU means for its packages, solely saying that “as we continue to monitor the impact of these actions, Governor Hochul is fighting to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all New Yorkers.”

In line with advocates who spoke with Metropolis Limits, the memorandum is one more effort by the Trump administration to focus on immigrants and doesn’t represent a foundation for eviction. Even earlier than the election, Donald Trump was on the marketing campaign path blaming immigrants for the “housing crisis” and the “rising housing costs,” despite the fact that economists and researchers disagree.

Like lots of Trump’s proposals in his second time period thus far, this one has roots in his first time in workplace. In 2019, the Trump administration proposed a policy rule change that may have essentially banned households with blended immigration statuses from residing in public or federally backed housing. In 2021, the Biden administration withdrew Trump’s proposed rule, so it was by no means carried out.

A 2019 HUD regulatory affect evaluation estimated that roughly 25,000 households receiving a federal subsidy nationwide had no less than one ineligible member.

“Geographically, 72 percent of mixed families are concentrated in three states—California (37 percent), Texas (23 percent), and New York (12 percent)—while the rest is scattered around the country with 3 percent or less mixed families per state,” reads the HUD’s evaluation.

An HPD spokesperson reiterated that HUD rules for federal rental subsidy packages, together with Part 8 vouchers, already restrict eligibility to households with no less than one member who has a qualifying immigration standing, with the housing subsidy a family receives prorated primarily based on the variety of eligible members.

In NYC, HPD supplies rental vouchers, together with Part 8, to a complete of 42,000 households, a spokesperson detailed. Of these, roughly 5,900 have members with eligible immigrant standing, and about 350 Part 8 households are of blended immigration standing.

It’s unclear whether or not town’s sanctuary legal guidelines, which prohibit native businesses from sharing figuring out info with federal immigration authorities, may play a task underneath the brand new data-sharing settlement and if that’s the case, how.

As a result of households should declare their citizenship and eligible immigration standing when making use of, HUD already has info on the immigration standing of households receiving federal housing advantages, based on HPD, NYCHA, and advocates.

Each HPD and NYCHA should report citizenship standing info to HUD, per HUD voucher guidelines, spokespersons for each businesses defined. HPD added that the precise affect of the MOU will rely upon how that info is utilized by HUD and DHS.

The memorandum particulars that HUD is devoting only one full-time staffer to this data-sharing effort, to “help stem the tide of illegal immigration in the United States and incentivize illegal aliens to voluntarily depart the country, we enter into this MOU,” it reads.

An HPD spokesperson stated HUD hasn’t contacted native businesses in regards to the measure, and because the MOU may be very new, its aim proper now could be to collect info, keep away from inflicting hurt or panic, coordinate with associate public housing businesses, after which talk with purchasers (although the company didn’t present particulars on these communication efforts). 

As that is the primary time this memorandum of understanding has been in impact, there may be an excessive amount of uncertainty. Advocates advocate that households seek the advice of with immigration attorneys for individualized assessments.

“Our advice for people who are concerned and are living in HUD subsidized housing,” Luft stated, “is for them to talk to their immigration attorneys and assess what their individual removal risk is and what they should do.”

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