The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has ordered all authorities and owners of HUD-funded housing to immediately verify their tenants’ citizenship and immigration status after an audit indicated tens of thousands of deceased and ineligible recipients.
In a Jan. 23 statement announcing the directive, HUD said the audit flagged nearly 200,000 tenants who require eligibility verification. Of those, there are some 25,000 “deceased” individuals still listed as active tenants and about 6,000 ineligible non-citizens who continue to receive the taxpayer-funded aid.
“We will leave no stone unturned,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said. “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.”
HUD framed the action as an enforcement measure of Section 214 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980, which limits federal housing aid to U.S. citizens and certain eligible non-citizens. The directive also implements a February 2025 executive order by President Donald Trump that requires federal agencies to prevent public benefits from going to illegal immigrants.
Under the directive, housing authorities and property owners have 30 days to take corrective actions, which include updating records and terminating assistance for those found ineligible. HUD warned that failure to comply could result in sanctions, including recapture of federal funds paid toward ineligible or deceased tenants.
According to HUD, there are about 970,000 households living in public housing units administered by around 3,300 federally funded public housing authorities nationwide.
The department said it conducted the audit in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The latter operates a verification system used to confirm immigration status for recipients of public benefits.