Following an audit conducted by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), HUD has identified nearly 200,000 tenants in HUD-funded housing who require eligibility verification. The audit also found almost 25,000 deceased tenants and nearly 6,000 non-American tenants deemed ineligible.
In response to these findings, HUD has instructed all Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) and property owners involved in HUD-funded housing programs to take corrective action within 30 days.
“We will leave no stone unturned,” said Secretary Scott Turner. “We are proud to collaborate with DHS to execute on the President’s agenda of rooting out abuse of taxpayer funded resources. Ineligible non-citizens have no place to receive welfare benefits. With this new directive and audit, HUD is putting new processes in place to safeguard taxpayer resources and put the American people first.”
Ben Hobbs, Assistant Secretary of Public and Indian Housing at HUD, added: “Today’s action to verify the immigration eligibility of all HUD-assisted households is 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. It is essential we prioritize our limited resources to eligible families only.”
This directive follows a letter sent last month by HUD reminding PHAs and owners about their legal obligations under Section 214 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980 as well as President Trump’s Executive Order 14218. These regulations require verification of citizenship or immigration status before individuals can be admitted into HUD-assisted housing.
Last year, Secretary Scott Turner from HUD and Secretary Kristi Noem from DHS signed a Memorandum of Understanding titled “American Housing Programs for American Citizens.” This agreement aimed to stop taxpayer funds from being used for individuals not eligible under federal law. As part of this initiative, tenant files from Section 8 and Section 9 programs were uploaded for immigration status checks through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system for the first time.
Within the next month, PHAs and property owners must review their EIV-SAVE Tenant Match Report, confirm accurate reporting on residents’ citizenship or immigration status for eligibility purposes, and begin corrective actions where needed. Non-compliance may result in sanctions; additionally, HUD will recover funds that were paid on behalf of deceased or otherwise ineligible tenants.
Read the full letter
