April 13, 2026

By Alejandro Campillo, Coordinator, Climate and the Built Environment

The Department of Housing and Urban Development is accepting public comments through Tuesday, April 21. Please submit yours by clicking here!

The Trump administration is trying to evict immigrants from public housing. On February 20, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a controversial proposal to force mixed-status households—households comprising both citizens and undocumented members— to choose between evicting their undocumented loved ones or giving up their housing altogether. Nationwide, around 20,000 families of mixed status live in public housing. 

Currently, mixed-status households are allowed to live in Section 8 and public housing; in fact, these households typically pay more in rent because public subsidies don’t cover their undocumented members. 

HUD’s proposal would require all participants in Section 8 and public housing programs to prove their immigration status. Implementing HUD’s proposal would require local housing authorities across the nation to demand every tenant verify citizenship . This means HUD may also inadvertently evict thousands of renters who are citizens but who do not have the right paperwork on hand. 

Once again, the Trump administration is using immigrants as a scapegoat. If this was truly and actually only about undocumented immigrants, why open up the possibility for citizens not in mixed-status families to fall through the cracks, too? 

By removing mixed-status families, HUD is purposefully removing a significant rental income source. And, in Los Angeles, the administrative burden of carrying out this policy will fall on the deeply underfunded agency that manages public housing—the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA). 

After decades of budget cuts and severe underfunding, this latest move by HUD could render public housing and Section 8 even more vulnerable to collapse. These housing programs are already running on limited resources. This might be surprising to the Trump administration, but housing authorities are actually in the business of providing housing, not enforcing immigration law. Further efforts to undermine capacity and resources for public housing and Section 8 could result in the demolition of much-needed affordable units in Los Angeles and beyond.  

The City of Los Angeles currently has 10 public housing projects, including Pueblo Del Rio right here in South Central. If we don’t do anything, tens of thousands of people across the city could lose their housing. If families paying hundreds of dollars a month in rent are suddenly expected to pay upwards of $3,000 a month on the private market, many of those families could end up unhoused. 

What can we do?

The Trump administration tried this during their first term in 2019, but organizations like ours came together to stop it. Over 30,000 public comments were submitted to HUD, overwhelming the office and delaying implementation long enough to see Trump term out. The goal this time is 60,000 public comments. Help us get there. 

Public comments are being accepted until April 21st. Now is the time to act. Send this link to friends. Send it to neighbors. Send to prospective lovers on dating apps. We need as many comments as we can get! http://bit.ly/kftcomment