Warren, Padilla Lead 20 Senate Colleagues in Calling Out Illegal HUD Proposal That Would Increase Costs and Lead to Wave of Evictions

Warren, Padilla Lead 20 Senate Colleagues in Calling Out Illegal HUD Proposal That Would Increase Costs and Lead to Wave of Evictions

"Not only would this proposed rule conflict with the law, but HUD itself has admitted that it will lead to increased costs, fewer families housed, and a wave of evictions of families and children across the country."

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Alex Padilla (D-CA) led 20 of their Senate colleagues in sending a letter to Scott Turner, Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), voicing urgent opposition to HUD's proposed rulemaking that would effectively eliminate federal rental assistance for households with mixed immigration eligibility statuses, in violation of federal statutory requirements.

The comment letter is signed by U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Jack Reed (D-RI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Ed Markey (D-MA), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Peter Welch (D-VT), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Patty Murray (D-WA), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI).

"The rule not only seeks to score political points at the expense of immigrant families, but also flagrantly violates Section 214 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980, as amended, which allows mixed-status families to receive federal rental assistance and prevents the separation of families in rental assistance programs," wrote the Senators.

"To make matters worse, the rule would cost the U.S. government up to an additional $251 million annually while boosting evictions of low-income renters-increasing costs for American taxpayers and compounding our nation's housing crisis," continued the Senators.

The Senators concluded: "Forcing [public housing agencies] to evict mixed-status families, which include U.S. citizens, in violation of Section 214 reflects this Administration's cruel and ideological approach to immigration and housing policy, which comes at a huge cost to the American people and the goals of the statute that Congress wrote. We call on HUD to withdraw this proposed rule and leave the agency's current regulation in place, which complies with Section 214 as Congress intended."

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