What's at stake:
A proposed HUD rule that would bar mixed-status families from federally assisted housing would affect hundreds of families in Fresno County.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently proposed a rule that would prevent mixed-status families from living in HUD-assisted housing.
In Fresno County, the proposal would impact 353 mixed-status households, which is approximately 839 adults and 653 children, according to Tyrone Roderick Williams, CEO of the Fresno Housing Authority.
“We’re anticipating that should a rule like this come into play, that many of these families are going to have a challenge finding housing,” Williams said. “That could lead to doubling up, contributing to people falling into homelessness, it could reach a lot of other things that we won’t be able to control.”
HUD defines mixed-status families as households that include both citizens or people with eligible immigration status and people without eligible status. Current policy already bars undocumented immigrants from receiving HUD assistance, but eligible family members, such as U.S. citizen children, can still receive prorated aid that reflects only the qualifying members of the household.
The proposed rule would end that policy by requiring every member of a household to have eligible immigration status in order for the family to qualify for HUD-assisted housing. This would deny housing assistance to otherwise eligible people, including U.S. citizens and lawfully present immigrants, if they live with someone who is undocumented.
Nationwide, HUD estimates nearly 79,600 people in more than 20,000 mixed-status households could lose assistance if prorated aid is eliminated.
The proposed rule is currently under review following the close of the public comment period on April 21.
In a public comment submitted to HUD, the Fresno Housing Authority urged the agency to provide a “minimum transition period of at least 12 months” if the rule moves forward.
The Fresno Housing Authority wrote that Congress “expressly preserved protections to prevent family division and displacement” and warned that eliminating those protections “raises significant concerns given their role in preventing family displacement and housing instability.”
He said Fresno Housing Authority is particularly concerned about the impact on children, who make up nearly half of those in mixed-status households, because housing instability can have lasting effects on education, health and economic mobility.
Fresno Housing Authority oversees about 11,000 voucher holders countywide, and Williams said some families already spend more than six months searching for affordable housing. He added that options are even more limited in rural communities and could leave displaced families at risk of overcrowding or becoming unhoused.
Williams said Fresno Housing does not report families to agencies outside of HUD, but acknowledged that many residents may fear how their information could be used with this potential federal rule amid heightened immigration enforcement nationwide.
How the proposed federal rule would displace families in Fresno County
Joseph Haydock, a member of the leadership council of Fresno Fair Housing Advocates, said the proposed federal rule reflects what he described as a broader rollback of fair housing protections and could deepen fear and discrimination within immigrant communities across Fresno County.
Haydock said the proposal would not save federal money because noncitizens deemed ineligible for assistance already do not receive federal housing funds. Instead, he said, local housing agencies and nonprofits would face additional administrative burdens while families lose access to stable housing.
“It appears that cruelty is the point,” Haydock said. “It certainly is going to harm families, it’s going to harm the ability of local organizations to provide help to these families, and it’s going to have a disproportionate impact on children and seniors.”
Haydock said Fresno Fair Housing Advocates was created to educate the public about discriminatory housing policies and advocate for equitable housing access in Fresno. He connected the proposed rule to a longer history of housing discrimination, including redlining and restrictive covenants that prevented many families of color from building generational wealth through homeownership.
“This rule specifically carries on that kind of discrimination,” Haydock said. “This rule is discriminatory towards people that have already been harmed by an unfair system.”
He also warned the impact could extend beyond immigrant families to landlords, nonprofits and the wider housing market. Property owners who accept Section 8 vouchers, he said, may be forced into difficult decisions if families lose assistance and can no longer afford rent.
“My biggest concern about it is the families that are going to be left really without a place to go,” he said. “We know there are not enough nonprofit organizations. There’s not enough bandwidth among the nonprofit organizations to pick up the slack.”
Julian Castro, former secretary of the HUD, said the proposed rule would disproportionately impact regions like the Central Valley, where mixed-status households are more common than in many other parts of the country, leaving these communities especially vulnerable.
“This proposed rule would create an impossible choice for a lot of families,” Castro said. “Choose having a roof over your head, but put part of your family out on the street or live out on the street together. It’s cruel and unnecessary, and is harmful all around.”
What would the new requirements be for mixed-status families
Under the current policy, families can stay together in HUD housing even if some members are not eligible for assistance. Housing subsidies are prorated so only eligible family members receive aid.
The proposed rule would disproportionately affect Latino families as they make up approximately 86% of households with mixed immigration status currently receiving HUD assistance.
The proposal would also require everyone in the household to share information with the Department of Homeland Security for immigration status checks through the SAVE verification system. If SAVE cannot confirm a citizen’s status, they would need to complete a manual document review.
The SAVE system, which was previously used primarily to verify eligibility for public benefits, has expanded significantly over the past year under the Trump administration, which has promoted it amid false claims that millions of noncitizens are on state voter rolls.
A February investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found that DHS accelerated the rollout of the updated system while it was still incorporating new data sources and before it could reliably capture individuals’ most current citizenship status.
The investigation also found that the system has produced repeated errors, particularly for people born outside the United States whose citizenship status later changed, and whose updated records are not always reflected in the database.
Mixed-status families who have not already submitted proof of citizenship or eligible immigration status would have 90 days after the final rule takes effect to provide documentation. Other tenants would need to provide documentation during their annual review.
The changes would apply across programs covered by the U.S. Housing Act of 1937, including public housing, Section 8 housing assistance, and housing development grant programs.
Castro criticized the Trump administration’s broader immigration policies, arguing the proposal fits into a wider strategy aimed at discouraging immigrants from remaining in the country.
“This is consistent with an administration that does not recognize the human value of immigrants and is using federal policy to scare people into self-deportation,” Castro said.
Castro said enforcement could vary depending on how aggressively local housing authorities implement the rule if it takes effect, though he hopes legal and political opposition will stop it before then.
“I think what the proposal lacks is a recognition of the reality of how people live, of how families live,” Castro said. “You have a lot of citizens in our country that also in their family may have someone who is undocumented, and this is about how we recognize those family ties.”
