According to a report of The Washington Post, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) estimated on Friday that more than 55,000 children who are legal residents or citizens of the U.S. could be displaced by a Trump administration plan to expel undocumented immigrants from public housing.
The proposed rule, published on Friday, would tighten regulations on undocumented immigrants who have been granted access to subsidized housing.
HUD Secretary Ben Carson said last month about this situation that he would “make certain our scarce public resources help those who are legally entitled to it”.
The agency’s review found that half of those facing eviction under the plan are children legally qualified for public assistance, the Post reported.
Under current policies, the law allows families with mixed immigration status to receive federal housing subsidies, as long as one family member is eligible. The new rule, proposed by White House senior policy advisor and immigration hardliner Stephen Miller, would require that each family member have “eligible immigration status”.
HUD’s analysis shows that approximately 25,000 households, representing about 108,000 people, have at least one person who would not be eligible.
Among mixed households, which mostly are located in California, Texas and New York, 76,000 people, including 55,000 children, are legally eligible for federally subsidized housing.
“HUD hopes that the fear of the family being separated would lead to prompt evacuation by most mixed households,” the analysis says. “Temporary homelessness could arise for a household if they are unable to find alternative housing.”
Mixed-status households which get federal subsidies receive an average of $8,400 per year, according to the analysis. To restrict aid to families in which all members are eligible would cost between $193 million and $227 million more each year because entire families would receive higher subsidies, HUD said in its analysis.
Given that Congress is unlikely to allocate the additional funds, the analysis found that HUD could be forced to “reduce the quantity and quality of assisted housing in response to higher costs.”
As a result, “there could be fewer households served under the housing choice voucher program.”
The analysis said that rising costs could adversely affect the quality of service and lead to the possible “deterioration of the units that could lead to vacancy”.
The plan suggests “less costly” options to limit the “adverse impact of transition on eligible children,” including allowing mixed-status families to remain in subsidized housing and applying the proposal only to new households seeking federal funds.
Translated by: José Espinoza
Noticias Newswire
