Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner made an appearance on Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo’s show and dropped the hammer on the Biden administration for allowing millions of illegal aliens to cross the border and ultimately snap up HUD-funded housing away from American citizens. He then revealed what the Trump administration is doing to fix the problem.
In a video clip from the interview posted on social media platform X, Turner pulled no punches in squarely placing the blame for the shortage of HUD-funded housing for American citizens on former President Joe Biden. “During the Biden administration, his immigration policies were literally non-existent. I mean, it really was a joke.”
He then ripped into the former president for allowing millions of illegal aliens to cross the southern border the U.S. shares with Mexico, completely unchecked and unvetted. “When you have the tens of millions of people coming across our border, illegally, unchecked and unvetted, that made the housing costs go up, it put a strain on supply.”
He told Bartiromo that part of President Donald Trump’s solution to the issue was the creation of a new rule that would ensure only qualified citizens of the country would be eligible for HUD housing. “And so we signed the qualified citizens new proposed rule to make sure that anybody living in HUD-funded housing is indeed an American citizen or is an eligible resident of this country.”
Turner then explained that there are a lot of citizens who need financial help, a hand up, and they should be the top priority, not illegal immigrants. “You know, we have American people that need a temporary hand up, people that need housing assistance. We had illegals living inside of HUD-funded housing, taking the space of the American people.”
“The new proposed rule will help us to ensure that Americans are receiving the help that they need,” Turner concluded. Turner had previously released a statement explaining the proposed rule on the official Housing and Urban Development website. The rule will require those applying for HUD assistance to provide proof of U.S. citizenship or eligible status, including “mixed status households.”
The rule will enable HUD to make sure that taxpayer-funded housing benefits only go to other American citizens and eligible individuals. “Under President Trump’s leadership, the days of illegal aliens, ineligibles, and fraudsters gaming the system and riding the coattails of American taxpayers are over,” Secretary Turner said in his statement.
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“HUD’s proposed rule will guarantee that all residents in HUD-funded housing are eligible tenants. We have zero tolerance for pushing aside hardworking U.S. citizens while enabling others to exploit decades-old loopholes,” he continued. The statement goes on to say the rule will help close loopholes and ban HUD funding from benefiting those who enter the country illegally.
“HUD housing assistance is intended for U.S. citizens and certain eligible noncitizens, yet HUD resources serve only a quarter of eligible households in need,” the HUD statement continued. “Meanwhile, a recent HUD and DHS audit of all assisted households identified nearly 200,000 tenants with incomplete or unknown eligibility verification.”
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video