One of the strongest charges aimed at illegal immigrants is that not
only have they broken the law, but they are relying heavily on
government handouts.
A PolitiFact reader sent us a link to
a Facebook post
that lists many such claims of unlawful residents benefiting from
federal programs. Among them was the claim that, "Nearly 60% of all
occupants of HUD housing in U.S. are illegals." The post went up on June
10 and since then has been shared over 3,900 times.
To assess this statement, we looked at the total number of people using HUD subsidized housing. According to
HUD’s website,
the count was about 9.6 million in 2009, the most recent year for which
they have data. That includes public housing, rent vouchers, Section 8
and a couple of other programs.
If the 60 percent claim were accurate, then there would be about 5.8
million illegal immigrants living in HUD properties. There are about
11.2 million illegal immigrants in the United States according to a
2010 Pew Hispanic Center estimate.
"It seems implausible on its face," says Chris Herbert, Research
Director at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.
"It would mean that about half of all the illegal immigrants in the
country lived in assisted housing."
If the practice were so widespread, Herbert says, it would come up
often -- and he’s never heard any discussion of it. We checked with
another of the country’s leading housing policy groups, the Furman
Center For Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University, and they
too drew a blank.
We asked HUD ourselves. A spokesman could find no published report on
illegal immigrants in HUD housing. HUD does require information on
citizenship when people apply for assistance. Public housing and
vouchers represent the bulk of HUD’s subsidized housing. The agency says
96 percent of those residents are citizens and about 4 percent are
legal immigrants.
"The claim that 60 percent are illegal is certainly nonsensical," says Brian Sullivan, a HUD spokesman.
Applicants for subsidized housing must be citizens or legal immigrants.
Sullivan notes that undocumented immigrants are allowed to live in
subsidized housing if at least one member of the household is in the
country legally. Typically, this happens when undocumented parents have a
child in the U.S. Anyone born here is automatically a citizen and the
parents could then rent in a HUD-subsidized property. In these cases,
HUD reduces the subsidy for each undocumented person in the unit.
Sullivan says, "The taxpayer would not be on the hook for assisting in their housing."
We found one article that references an estimate of the number of
illegal immigrants living in subsidized units. An item from the
Associated Press
says HUD pegged the number at about 30,000. That would be about 0.3
percent of all HUD residents -- a tiny fraction of 60 percent. An
unconfirmed blog post in circulation on the Web mentions that Arizona
HUD officials estimated that perhaps 10 percent of its occupants are in the country illegally.
To be complete, we should note that whatever housing benefits an
illegal immigrant might enjoy -- such as being allowed to live in a HUD
unit because a family member is a citizen -- those benefits don’t count
in certain kinds of deportation hearings. The government can deport
someone if it determines they are a
"public charge"
which is defined as someone who is "primarily dependent on the
Government for subsistence." HUD housing is not part of that
calculation.
Clearly, there are some illegal immigrants living in HUD housing and
there are rules that might allow them to stay, but in no way do the
numbers match the claim that 60 percent of HUD housing residents are
"illegals."
Our ruling
The Facebook post says "Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD housing in U.S. are illegals."
The closest but unverified estimate we could find for illegal occupants
in HUD housing is less than 1 percent nationwide. The claim of 60
percent is ridiculously false.
Pants on Fire!
About this statement:
Published: Thursday, June 21st, 2012 at 6:07 p.m.
Subjects: Housing,
Immigration
Sources:
Interview with Chris Herbert, Research Director, Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University, June 21, 2012
Interview with Brian Sullivan, spokesman, Department of Housing and Urban Development, June 21, 2012
Email correspondence with Meghan Lewit, Communications Associate,
Furman Center For Real Estate and Urban Policy, New York University,
June 21, 2012
Proration rules at HUD, HUD guidebook, accessed June 20, 2012
Restrictions on assistance to noncitizens, HUD guidebook, accessed June 20, 2012
2009 Data on HUD Residents, HUD web site, accessed June 21, 2012
Many illegal immigrants live in public housing, USA Today, January 1, 2009, accessed June 20, 2012
Email correspondence with
John Goering, Public Affairs Department, City University of New York, June 21, 2012
Guidance on Public Charge, HUD, March 25, 2011, accessed June 21, 2012
Middle America News blog, February 2009 posting, accessed June 20, 2012
Estimate of illegal immigrant population, Pew Hispanic Center, 2010, accessed June 20, 2012
Written by: Jon Greenberg
Researched by: Jon Greenberg
Edited by: Bill Adair