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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Ben Carson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), take questions after signing a ceremonial agreement between the federal government and the City of New York intended to correct mismanagement of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), during a press conference at the Jacob Javits Federal Building, January 31, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Ben Carson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), take questions after signing a ceremonial agreement between the federal government and the City of New York intended to correct mismanagement of the New…

HUD Would Condemn Thousands of Children to Homelessness

Cruelty is the name of the immigration game for the Trump administration. More than that, gratuitous, needless cruelty based on lies, prejudice and runaway…

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The most recent example of the heartlessness and stupidity of Trump, his minions and sycophants is their plan to change public housing rules as to intensify their persecution of undocumented families by throwing thousands of them out of their homes. The fact that many of those families will become homeless and that, even worse, more than 55,000 children who are all legal U.S. residents or citizens will be victims of such misguided measure, has no impact on their decision.

The disastrous human consequences of the proposed rule have been acknowledged even by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.  Not surprisingly, Stephen Miller, the unabashedly racist Trump advisor and speech writer, is the one pushing the idea, but Ben Carson, the ineffable Housing and Urban Development secretary, proving once more his lack of moral compass, has enthusiastically endorsed it.

Undocumented immigrants are barred from federal housing, but families of mixed-immigration status, that is, with a child born in the United States or a citizen spouse, are currently eligible. Yet, the new rule would do away with that provision, enacted to keep families together, and would require for every person in the household to be of “eligible immigration status.”

“Tens of thousands of deeply poor kids, mostly U.S. citizens, could be evicted and made homeless because of this rule, and — by HUD’s own admission — there would be no benefit to families on the waiting list,” said Diane Yentel, president and chief executive of the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

As reported by the Washington Post, and according to HUD, close to 25,000 households have at least one ineligible member. They represent about 108,000 people, the majority of them in California, Texas and New York. Yet, as HUD has admitted, 70%, or 76,000 of those people, 55,000 of whom are children, are legally eligible for benefits.

“What makes this proposal seem extraordinarily cruel is that it’s looking backwards into existing families who are paying their rent and doing what they are supposed to do,” Adrianne Todman, chief executive of the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials told The Post. “I’m not even quite sure how a judge would look at this, because when you evict, you have to have some type of cause.”

The new measure is already facing strong opposition led by the no-nonsense House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters who, along with more than 20 committee Democrats, last Friday sent a strong letter to Carson.

“This proposed rule is yet another proposal from HUD under your leadership that fundamentally contradicts the agency’s mission ‘to create strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all,’” the Democrats wrote. “This cruel and needless targeting of struggling immigrant families only contributes to historic patterns of inequality, which ultimately hinder the U.S. housing market and American economy.”

At this stage of the game no one should be surprised by this administration’s bigotry or its inhumanity and hypocrisy. And make no mistake, it is bound to get much worse.

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