EL PASO, TEXAS — The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced Thursday that it will require the nation’s approximately 2,000 state and local housing agencies to doublecheck files on every tenant and report to HUD. HUD indicates that housing authorities that do not comply within 30 days will be sanctioned, but the agency details neither its legal authorization to impose this requirement nor an indication that it will offset the resulting costs borne by state and local governments.
This is not the first misleading claim made by the Trump administration and its allies concerning immigrants and housing and social services. During last year’s federal budget debate congressional Republicans backed by the White House lied about immigrants and Medicaid, and FactCheck.org debunked White House claims about immigrants and housing costs as “exaggerated” and “misleading.”
Responding to the HUD announcement, the Protecting Immigrant Families coalition issued the following statement from its executive director, Adriana Cadena.
“Prices for everything have been sky-high during the Trump presidency, with housing costs remaining a real burden for millions of hard-working families. The administration should be working to close the gap between housing costs and wages. Instead, they’re blaming immigrants and shifting costs to local communities and states.”
