So this is what “housing reform” looks like in 2025: Forcing families apart or out onto the streets, all in the name of “efficiency.”
The U.S. Department of Housing and Uban Development’s proposal to ban mixed-status households and cut funding for Emergency Housing Vouchers isn’t just misguided, it’s cruel. Apparently, the federal solution to a national housing crisis is to create even more homelessness.
Brilliant.
Let’s be honest. This isn’t policy. It’s a large blue suit with a red tie swaggering around pretending cruelty is “governance.”
Under the new rule, a family with one undocumented parent and three U.S-citizen children could lose their home entirely. These are families who pay rent, follow the rules, and build their lives in our communities. But sure let’s pretend this is about “fiscal responsibility.” Because nothing screams responsible budgeting like evicting working families and putting children in shelters.
Then there’s the plan to defund the Emergency Housing Voucher program, which helps some of the most vulnerable people in our society — survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, and those exiting homelessness.
Budget discipline? Please.
It’s cruelty from a wannabe dictator. Here in Santa Barbara County, hundreds of families could lose their homes if the plans go through. These aren’t abstract statistics — they’re our neighbors, coworkers, and classmates. People who serve our food, care for our children, and keep this community running.
HUD’s mission is supposed to be Housing and Urban Development — not Homelessness and Unnecessary Despair. Maybe its time our federal leaders remember which side of that acronym they’re supposed to stand for.
