HUD orders citizenship verification after audit reveals ineligible tenants in taxpayer-funded housing
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) ordered all public housing authorities and owners receiving department-funded housing Friday to verify tenant citizenship and eligibility after an audit conducted with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) flagged tens of thousands of deceased and ineligible tenants nationwide.
HUD said the audit identified nearly 200,000 tenants requiring eligibility verification, including nearly 25,000 deceased tenants and nearly 6,000 ineligible non-American tenants across federally funded housing programs.
Under the directive, HUD said all public housing authorities and participating owners have 30 days to take corrective action or face potential sanctions.
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HUD said the review was conducted in coordination with DHS and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which operates the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system, and was aimed at ensuring compliance with existing federal law.
"We will leave no stone unturned," HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a statement. "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."
HUD Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing Ben Hobbs said the verification effort is intended to ensure limited housing resources are directed to eligible households.
"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," Hobbs said.
HUD said the directive follows a letter sent last month reminding housing authorities and owners of their legal obligations under Section 214 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980 and President Trump’s Executive Order 14218, which requires verification of citizenship and immigration status prior to admission to HUD-assisted housing.
As part of that effort, Turner and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem previously signed an "American Housing Programs for American Citizens" memorandum of understanding aimed at preventing what HUD described as the misappropriation of taxpayer dollars under federal housing programs.
HUD said the agreement led to the first-ever upload of all HUD Section 8 and Section 9 tenant files into the SAVE system to verify immigration status.
The department said the directive applies to all HUD-funded housing nationwide and is focused on eligibility verification and program integrity.
DHS and USCIS did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for further comment.