Public Housing Residents Must Prove Immigration Status Under New HUD Rule, Possibly Displacing Thousands

Residents of federally funded public housing will be required to show proof of U.S. citizenship or eligible immigration status under a new rule published Thursday by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The measure could displace nearly 80,000 people, including tens of thousands of citizens in mixed-status families, from their homes, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research and policy institute.

Since 1995, mixed-status families have been permitted to live together in HUD-funded housing as long as federal subsidies covered only eligible household members. The new rule may force these families to decide whether to remain together in nonpublic housing or split up their households.

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About 20,000 mixed-status families, or 80,000 people, could be affected by the rule, CBPP’s data shows. About 37,000 of those are children, mostly U.S. citizens, CBPP said.

The rule is scheduled to take effect on Dec. 14.

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Families in all 50 states will be affected, with the largest concentration in New York, California and Texas. The rule would impact more than 7,000 mixed-status households in California and 2,500 mixed-status households in New York, according to a coalition of 22 state attorneys general who opposed the rule.

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During the first Trump administration in 2019, HUD attempted to revise the longstanding provision, but the proposed change was withdrawn in 2021. In February 2026, the agency reintroduced the proposed rule, drawing more than 11,000 public comments from individuals, advocacy groups and members of Congress during the three-month comment period.

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