HousingWireHousingWire
After signing a new interagency memorandum of understanding (MOU), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will collaborate in an attempt to keep undocumented immigrants in the U.S. illegally from accessing housing programs funded by U.S. taxpayers.
HUD Secretary Scott Turner traveled to DHS headquarters to sign the agreement alongside DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. The MOU, which the agencies are calling “American Housing Programs for American Citizens,” aims to end what it calls “the wasteful misappropriation of taxpayer dollars to benefit illegal aliens instead of American citizens.”
The MOU calls for a HUD staffer to be added to DHS’ Incident Command Center (ICC), which in turn will “facilitate data sharing and ensure taxpayer-funded housing programs are not used to harbor or benefit illegal aliens,” the announcement explained.
In a video announcing the MOU, Turner tied the issue of immigration enforcement to housing affordability.
“We have a housing affordability crisis in our country, and so today we are ensuring that American taxpayer dollars are used to assist the American people,” Turner said.
Turner added in a prepared statement that the MOU “will leverage resources including technology and personnel to ensure American people are the only priority when it comes to public housing,” he said. “We will continue to work closely with DHS to maximize our resources and put American citizens first.”
In the video, Noem said that the MOU represents “a partnership that we will form to make sure that these housing programs are going to only people who deserve it,” she said. “People who are in this country that need assistance, that want a better life for their families.”
HUD also announced that through its Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH), it has “instructed Moving to Work (MTW) Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) to comply with Section 214 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980, prohibiting HUD-funded service providers from providing financial assistance to illegal immigrants.”
