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Turner ties housing-cost pressure to immigration, announces DHS data-sharing; criticizes New York tenant director's remarks
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Summary
HUD Secretary Scott Turner said high housing costs are strained by immigration and said HUD signed a memorandum of understanding with DHS to verify occupants of HUD-funded housing; he also criticized a clip attributed to a New York City tenant director calling private homeownership a tool of white supremacy.
Scott Turner, U.S. Housing and Urban Development secretary, told an interviewer that immigration-related migration has strained housing supply and that HUD has taken steps to verify recipients of HUD-funded housing.
"Over 12,000,000 illegal, aliens coming across our border has literally, strained our housing supply," Turner said, citing what he described as data linking immigration to recent housing demand increases. The host referenced a department report the interviewer said found that immigration accounted for an outsized share of rental-price growth in states such as California and New York. Turner said HUD has signed "a memorandum of understanding, a data sharing agreement with Department of Homeland Security to make sure that everyone that lives in HUD funded housing is indeed, an American citizen," and that he has ordered public housing authorities to provide comprehensive occupant accounts.
The host played a clip attributed to Cia Weaver, identified in the clip as a tenant director for the New York City mayoral administration referenced in the segment, in which Weaver said private property has long been treated as an individualized good and proposed a shift toward shared equity. In the clip Weaver said, "private property including and kind of especially homeownership is a weapon of white supremacy masquerading as wealth building public policy." Turner called the posted statement "ludicrous," "irresponsible" and "ignorance," and said HUD supports homeownership across racial lines. "Last year, HUD supported over 1000000 first time homebuyers through our FHA and Ginnie Mae program," Turner said.
When asked whether HUD would be watching the New York City administration closely, Turner said, "we'll all be watching very closely," and reiterated HUD's stated priorities: affordable, safe housing and helping Americans achieve homeownership. The clip's host said the social-media post has been deleted; Turner and HUD said they would monitor policies and outcomes rather than rely solely on rhetoric.
