Many people in Illinois and across the nation have been watching the shifting tide and actions regarding immigrants and how they are treated in the U.S. since the last presidential election. Despite being a nation all but built on immigration, there can be a sense that today’s administration is working against immigrants. A recently announced plan concerning public housing options for immigrants raises that feeling again.
As reported by The Washington Post, the U.S. government has for some time offered financial assistance to immigrants so they may be able to live in public housing units. This assistance has been available to families in which not all residence occupants are legal immigrants. For example, adults may not legally be in the U.S. but their children may have been born here and are therefore U.S. citizens. These people have to date been able to live in public housing thanks to the subsidies.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently made clear its intention to pursue a plan that would remove the assistance for public housing units to any household that has even one non-legal immigrant occupant. It is estimated that 55,000 children who are legally in the United States may be at risk of losing a safe place to call home if this plan goes into effect.
One potential compromise has been offered that would allow people already in the units to remain but to enact the new rule going forward for new applicants only. So far, it is not known if this or any other compromise will be accepted.
