Housing advocates across the U.S. are preparing for the possibility of President Donald Trump using the Department of Housing and Urban Development as a tool to enact his immigration agenda.
The Trump administration’s blocked freeze on federal aid has caused panic among housing advocates, unsure of which HUD programs could be affected. Combined with Trump’s promises to crack down on immigration and a proposed rule from his first administration targeting mixed-immigration-status households funded through HUD, housing advocates think it’s just a matter of time before his administration turns its focus to housing.
“While the current executive actions that have been rolled out by the second Trump administration don’t specifically focus on housing or benefits, there is already a chilling effect across communities,” said Adriana Cadena, director of the nonprofit advocacy group Protecting Immigrant Families.
“We know that that’s a threat. It was in Project 2025. It was part of the first Trump administration’s initiative,” Cadena added. “We see that coming. It didn’t come on day one, but it doesn’t mean it may not come.”
In 2019, HUD proposed a rule that would restrict federal housing assistance from reaching households in which at least one member is an undocumented resident. The rule, which never went into effect, was quickly withdrawn by the Biden administration, but it’s been front of mind for housing advocates as Trump’s second administration kicks off.
At his recent confirmation hearing, Trump’s nominee for HUD secretary, Scott Turner, was noncommittal about preserving federal funding for mixed-immigration-status households when Sen. Ruben Gallego argued that pursuing such policies could also result in the displacement of American citizens.
“My job will be to uphold the laws of the books. And I know oftentimes we have to make hard decisions,” Turner said in response. “We do not like to tear up families, but we have an obligation to serve the American people.”
The White House did not respond to questions about how or if it plans to implement immigration policy through HUD.
Ben Carson, Trump’s former HUD secretary, wrote a housing chapter for Project 2025, The Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for a second Trump administration. It included an argument that “local welfare organizations, not the federal government, should step up to provide welfare for the housing of noncitizens.”
Francisco Gonzalez, the interim housing opportunities program manager at Erie Neighborhood House, which provides housing resources for immigrants in Chicago, said it’s been difficult connecting with families receiving federal assistance since the start of Trump’s term.
“A lot of follow-up phone calls that I make, they don’t respond as they used to,” Gonzalez said. “They have fear, and a lot of the time, fear paralyzes.”
Gonzalez said his organization is hosting information sessions for community members and teaching staff members how to prepare for “expected” raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Kelli Dobner, the chief growth officer of Samaritas, a Michigan-based refugee resettlement organization, said the group is “preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.”
“It really depends on what officially comes down and what is going to be enforced. We’re always going to cooperate with law enforcement, but at the same time, protect our clients to the best ability that we can, and sometimes it’ll be in our hands and other times it won’t be,” Dobner said. “Unfortunately, we just don’t know what that looks like yet.”
Brandon Lee, director of communications for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said the state began coordinating with local housing groups in response to the influx of migrants bussed into the city from Texas during the Biden administration by Gov. Greg Abbott. Lee expects the close coordination to continue into the Trump administration and emphasized a focus in trying to fund housing programs on the city and state levels.
“This doesn’t mean that Trump won’t try to use HUD as a way to enact his immigration agenda, but local programs have been more of our priority for advocacy up to this point,” Lee said in a statement.
Alan Webber, the mayor of Santa Fe, New Mexico, said after Trump’s attempt at freezing federal aid, the city completed an assessment of what could be impacted. He worries that affordable housing and community development block grants are at great risk.
“I guess it depends on whether the Trump administration wants to build housing and maintain a strong economy or it wants to persecute individuals who were at the lower end of the income spectrum in America,” Webber told NOTUS when asked if he expects Trump to use HUD to target cities like his with large immigrant populations.
“What we’re seeing right now is a great deal of fear in the immigrant community,” Webber added.
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Amelia Benavides-Colón is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.