The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Thursday proposed a rule requiring every resident in HUD-funded housing to provide proof of U.S. citizenship or eligible immigration status, a move the agency said would close what it called a long-standing loophole in public housing programs.
Scott Turner said the proposal would end the practice of allowing households with mixed immigration status to receive prorated housing assistance when some residents are ineligible.
“For too long, illegals and ineligibles have taken spots in public housing through the mixed-status roommate loophole, while Americans were forced to wait,” Turner said in a statement. “We have zero tolerance for pushing aside hardworking U.S. citizens while enabling others to exploit decades-old loopholes.”
"The days of illegal aliens, ineligibles, and fraudsters gaming the system and riding the coattails of American taxpayers are over" Sec. Turner proposes new regulations demanding that all members in HUD-supported households give proof of U.S. citizenship or eligible status pic.twitter.com/qFD09brDxX
— AmeriClips (@americlips) February 21, 2026
HUD said the proposed rule would require documentation from all residents, regardless of age, and would remove provisions that allow individuals to decline to submit verification or continue receiving assistance indefinitely despite ineligible status. The agency said it expects the change could redirect up to $218 million in housing assistance to eligible households currently on waiting lists.
The proposal is a notice of proposed rulemaking under the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980 and has been published in the Federal Register, where it is open for public comment. It is not legislation and does not require congressional approval to take effect.
HUD said audits conducted with the Department of Homeland Security found nearly 200,000 tenants with incomplete or unknown eligibility verification. The agency estimates that about 24,000 ineligible individuals currently receive housing assistance through mixed-status household arrangements.
The move follows coverage by The New York Times reporting that when a similar policy was proposed during President Donald Trump’s first term in 2019, HUD estimated it could displace tens of thousands of U.S. citizens and legal residents, many of them children, who live with undocumented family members in public housing.
In response to the report, Turner said media outlets were mischaracterizing the proposal’s intent.
“Mainstream media is bending over backwards to defend illegals and fraudsters abusing taxpayer-funded resources,” Turner wrote on social media. “We’ll keep following the law and making room for American citizens on the waitlist for assistance.”
Mainstream media is bending over backwards to defend illegals and fraudsters abusing taxpayer-funded resources.
— Scott Turner (@SecretaryTurner) February 20, 2026
We’ll keep following the law and making room for American citizens on the waitlist for assistance. pic.twitter.com/e2t2rs2o0Z
The announcement received support from some social media users. One comment read: “Thank you Scott. The Democrats would do anything and I mean anything to prioritize illegals over Americans”.
👏👏
— AmeriClips (@americlips) February 21, 2026
HUD said current housing resources serve only about one-quarter of eligible households nationwide, arguing that stricter eligibility verification is necessary to reduce waiting lists.
The proposal revives elements of a 2019 policy that faced opposition from local housing authorities and landlords, who warned at the time that it could disrupt rent collections and increase administrative burdens. HUD said the new rule would ensure that only eligible tenants receive federal housing assistance while maintaining compliance with existing law.
Public housing authorities would be required to verify immigration status for all residents using federal databases if the rule is finalized. Until then, current regulations governing mixed-status households remain in effect.
HUD has not said when it expects to issue a final rule.
