Targeting Immigrants, Producing Terrible Outcomes

Care For the Homeless is opposing a proposed rule published by the Trump administration and urging all advocates to consider filing an official comment in opposition to the rule that would evict 25,000 immigrant families from public housing, including over 55,000 children. On May 10, 2019, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published a draft rule that would significantly change HUD’s regulations by restricting eligibility for federal housing assistance based on immigration status. It would also impose new documentation requirements for U.S. citizens and individuals 62 years of age or older who will be at risk of eviction and homelessness if they cannot prove their citizenship.

The proposed rule prohibits “mixed status” families from living in federally subsidized units. “Mixed status” families are households made up of members that are eligible and not eligible to receive housing subsidies through HUD based on their immigration status. "Mixed status" families can currently live together because the assistance is prorated so that the subsidy is based on the portion of eligible household members in the unit. Its important to note that an “ineligible” immigrant doesn’t mean that they are undocumented. Immigrants can have legal status and still not be eligible for public housing and Section 8 programs. 

HUD claims that the agency proposed the rule out of concern for long wait lists for public housing. A claim that is contradicted by HUD's own analysis acknowledging the terrible consequences of the proposed rule that include:
  • A deficit in the HUD budget ranging from $193 million to $227 million to provide housing subsidies to the replacement households (made up of all eligible members)
  • HUD would have to reduce the quantity and quality of assisted housing in response to higher costs
  •  HUD expects that the fear of the family being separated would lead to prompt evacuation by most mixed family households
  • Homelessness for those families unable to find alternate housing
Despite the rationale, the proposed rule is not about keeping undocumented immigrants from benefitting from federal housing assistance, because the law already prohibits them from accessing these subsidies. Rather it’s another attempt on a long list of attacks against immigrant families that are struggling to pay for basic necessities. It instills fear in immigrant communities and creates a dangerous dialogue of victim blaming without offering any real solutions to desperate problems. The real issue is the lack of funding to ensure that every family that applies for housing assistance can receive a safe, accessible and affordable place to call home. Evicting people during the height of a housing crisis is a misguided and cruel policy.

Another policy that affects immigrant communities is the “public charge” rule that was proposed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and is expected to go into effect this summer. This rule expands the types of benefits that could be considered in a “public charge” determination which include essential programs such as Medicaid, SNAP and public housing making it more difficult for low and moderate-income immigrants to get a green card, extend, or change their temporary status in the US.

To further the impact of the new definition of “public charge”, Reuters reported on May 3rd that the Department of Justice (DOJ) plans to issue a proposed rule related to deportation on “public charge” grounds. Under current law DHS cannot deport/remove someone for using public benefits. However, the DOJ can deport, in very narrow circumstances, on the grounds of “public charge”. It is expected that the grounds of deportability will continue to be narrow. But, the real consequences of these types of changes is the chilling effect that it will have on undocumented and documented immigrants that will no longer access important lifesaving and life sustaining services such as Medicaid, SNAP and public housing when they need them the most. This will result in terrible outcomes and will end up costing more in public resources.
 
Join us in voicing your opposition to the change proposed by HUD that would affect "mixed status" families. YOUR COMMENTS MATTER! You can submit comments to HUD explaining why this rule would have a negative impact on your, your family, and your community. The deadline to submit comments is July 9, 2019. You can submit them here. You can also go to http://www.keep-families-together.org/ for any additional resources. 

 Click here for June 2019 Policy Matters Newsletter
Location: New York, NY, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Join Us on Mon, June 22nd for 2nd Annual Summer Solstice Success Celebration!

Image
Join Care for the Homeless and our Client Leaders on Monday, June 22 nd at 4:30 p.m. in celebrating the health care successes of homeless and formerly homeless New Yorkers. The 2 nd Annual CFH Summer Solstice Success Celebration will feature live entertainment, fun and the opportunity to recognize the successes of our clients and thank the providers who delivery high quality, client centered services every day. “So often people focus on the bad news coming out of the shelter system,” said David Broxton, a formerly homeless cancer survivor and Care for the Homeless client. “We want to put the focus on the successes of New Yorkers who have experienced homelessness - people do get back on their feet with the right services available to them.”   The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held at the dining room and gardens at Red Oak Apartments, 135 W. 106 th Street in Manhattan, on Monday, June 22, at 4:30 p.m. In addition to celebrating health care stories of success
Read more

CFH Executive Director Bobby Watts Responds to Police Homeless Photos on Pix11

Image
Care for the Homeless Executive Director Bobby Watts was featured last night on Pix11 news to talk about an initiative by the Sergeant Benevolent Association to photograph homeless New Yorkers on the street. The officers are posting their pictures to an online Flicker photo album in an attempt to expose a supposed “decrease in quality of life in NYC” but what these pictures really highlight are the difficulties of life on the street. Whatever the politics of the initiative, we know that it’s crucial to find real fixes for the problems of people experiencing homelessness.  “I don’t take a position on the letter or motivation. I really focus on results,” Bobby Watts, executive director of Care for the Homeless, told PIX11 News. “To the extent that more people are aware of homelessness and are determined to find solutions, that can be helpful.” If you see someone in need of services on the street, call 3-1-1 to alert city homeless outreach teams. Click here to watch the full
Read more

Provider Profile Vol. 5 | Dr. Andrea Littleton

Image
Addressing the Whole Person Dr. Littleton with a Patient The streets outside the Care For the Homeless (CFH) Health Center (located at the Living Room/Safe Haven Shelter) rattle with a rhythm that should be familiar to most New Yorkers. Semi-trucks blow by, footsteps patter on the sidewalk, and the nearest park teems with laughing children. Across the street, a Dominican monastery stands as tall and proud as the day it was built in 1891, adding a touch of history to the area. Conversely, the rhythm inside the halls of the shelter and health center are anything but familiar. Located in the Bronx, the Living Room/Safe Haven a is a 24-hour, open access drop-in site, meaning anyone experiencing street homelessness is welcome to come in and spend time off the streets. CFH site partner BronxWorks offers hot meals, showers, laundry, and housing services to compliment the medical services provided by CFH. Despite the similarities it shares with other CFH sites, the Living Ro
Read more

Sophie Cares for the Homeless

Image
This young lady couldn’t stop giggling during her health check-up by Sophie As a Nurse Practitioner, Sophie cares for homeless individuals in New York City in her own special way. She started working at Care for the Homeless only two months after graduating from Yale University with her Master’s Degree in Nursing as a Family Nurse Practitioner. Sophie is originally from Portland, Oregon. She received her bachelor’s from Occidental College in Los Angeles, California in 2013 and moved to New York City in 2014 when she started her studies at Yale. Sophie says her mentors at Yale referred her to Care for the Homeless (CFH), where she now practices medicine at two CFH health centers, one in Queens and the other in the Bronx. She enjoys working at CFH because she is always “learning from [her] patients.” She says coming from Oregon to living in New York and working at CFH, she learned a lot about the challenges the city brings and the “incredible resilience” that is needed to live i
Read more

Reducing Eligibility to Life Saving Services

Image
The current administration has continuously targeted federal benefit programs important to low-income Americans for drastic cuts. A new effort follows suit by proposing a change to how the ‘poverty threshold’ is to be calculated, which will decrease the number of people eligible for important federal benefit programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid. This would affect millions of extremely low-income individuals and families. The current measurement called the “consumer price index (CPI)” has been used for a long time to set the annualized increases in the official poverty threshold. The administration is considering using what is known as “the chained CPI”, a different inflation measure that would result in a slower annual increase of inflation over time. “Chained CPI” assumes that as the prices of goods go up, individuals substitute less expensive items, thereby reducing their overall expenses. Why is this important? The proposed change wou
Read more