Trump administration asks public housing agencies to ensure tenants are legal citizens
HUD Secretary Scott Turner is demanding that public housing agencies ensure tenants are lawful U.S. citizens
by Summer Lane | September 1, 2025
President Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development will request that those receiving Section 8 public assistance, and therefore residing in public housing, provide proof of U.S. citizenship.
U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner issued a statement on the matter last week, explaining that his agency was asking for all information related to Section 8 or HUD-funded tenants, as required by law.
“No longer will illegal aliens be able to leave citizenship boxes blank or take advantage of HUD-funded housing, riding the coattails of hardworking American citizens,” he said.
In another statement posted on X, Turner explained, “D.C. Housing Authority is on notice — we are demanding all citizenship information for residents. We are telling the same to the more than 3,000 Public Housing Authorities across the country. The taxpayer-funded vacation is over.”
Despite what critics may say, evidence suggests that illegal migrants may indeed take advantage of public housing. According to the New York Post, under rules set by the Biden administration, to qualify for low-rent housing or public housing assistance, only one member of a household must have legal status.
In other words, one person with legal status could be living with five or more individuals of illegal status. While there may be some debate about how often this happens, Turner is clearly asking for fortified transparency from public housing agencies.
In California alone, there are at least 2.3 illegal residents, according to statistics from the Pew Research Center. It begs the question: how are these individuals obtaining housing if they entered the country in violation of federal immigration laws?
According to Politico, President Trump’s administration has proposed a 51 percent cut in HUD funding, “which would effectively halve funding for federal rent assistance and let the states decide how to distribute the money left.”
Photo: Adobe Stock
