EL PASO, TEXAS — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) finalized regulations Tuesday to deny housing subsidies to entire families that include a person who is ineligible based on immigration status. The Protecting Immigrant Families coalition (PIF) coordinated a comment opposing the regulation that was cosigned by nearly 400 local, state, and national organizations.
For decades, HUD policy has denied housing subsidies to people who are undocumented or otherwise ineligible based on immigration status. That includes a range of lawfully present immigrants, including people with Temporary Protected Status, survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking with “U” or “T” visas, and people with a wide range of other visas. When families who qualified included a person who wasn’t eligible, the housing subsidy was reduced proportionally. For example, a family that includes a mom who is undocumented, a dad who has a green card, and two U.S. citizen children would receive a subsidy 25% lower than for a family of four people who were all eligible. The regulation finalized today will instead now deny aid to all eligible people in immigrant families, thus evicting lawfully present immigrants and U.S. citizens in immigrant families who are already served by affordable housing programs.
A similar 2019 proposal was estimated to deny housing to 25,000 families, which included 55,000 children. HUD has not estimated the impact of the current proposal, but the 2019 estimate is almost certainly too low. Housing has gotten less affordable, with average rents increasing since 2019, while average hourly wages fell from 2019 to 2025.
Families with children are the fastest growing segment of America’s homeless population, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. And HUD reported last year that more than 230,000 people in families with children were homeless.
The administration’s policy runs counter to the priorities of a bipartisan supermajority of the American people. A March 2026 poll found that 83% of Americans support health and social services for lawfully present immigrants, like those targeted by the HUD proposal. The same poll found that a majority of Americans are concerned that anti-immigrant policies are harming U.S. citizens in immigrant families.
In response to the regulation’s publication, PIF issued the following statement by its executive director, Adriana Cadena.
“We should all expect better than leaders who respond to a housing crisis with a plan to increase homelessness. People who are undocumented were already denied housing subsidies – this regulation evicts lawfully present immigrants and U.S. citizens in immigrant families. An ‘immigration’ policy targeting U.S. citizens is clearly wrongheaded.”
