HUD Issues PRWORA Notice Regarding “Federal Public Benefit” Definition; NHLP Shares Updated Analysis

By Renee Williams, NLIHC Senior Advisor for Public Policy  

On November 26, HUD issued a Federal Register Notice (Notice) regarding the applicability of the “Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996” (PRWORA) to a wide range of HUD programs. The Notice interprets the PRWORA term “federal public benefit” to cover programs such as the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME, and Continuum of Care (CoC) programs. Programs considered to be a “federal public benefit” will have immigration verification requirements, unless an exemption applies. If fully implemented, these immigration verification requirements will represent a significant change in practice for housing programs that had not previously verified immigration status. 

Importantly, immediate implementation of the verification requirements faces at least two hurdles. First, HUD states in the Notice that further guidance regarding immigration verification is forthcoming, to be based on future Department of Homeland Security (DHS) guidance. Second, ongoing litigation is challenging various federal agency PRWORA interpretations issued under the second Trump administration, including the HUD Notice. As part of the litigation, the federal government and 22 jurisdictions filed an agreement with the court stating that HUD would not enforce the Notice in those jurisdictions pending the outcome of the ongoing case.  

The National Housing Law Project (NHLP) has posted an updated memo providing an in-depth analysis of these most recent developments. The memo also details the larger historical context of these developments. 

Brief Background 

PRWORA states that a person who is not a “qualified alien” is not eligible for a “federal public benefit.” Under the statute, there are exemptions such that certain federal public benefits can be accessed regardless of immigration status. One example of an exempted federal public benefit is “[s]hort-term, non-cash, in-kind emergency disaster relief.”  

PRWORA requires that the federal government implement measures regarding immigration verification for programs that constitute a “federal public benefit.” Therefore, which programs are deemed a “federal public benefit,” and whether a particular program falls within a PRWORA exemption, are important determinations. Another key issue is identifying the specific entities that will be required to conduct the verification and how they will do so. Notably, PRWORA does not require nonprofit charitable organizations to verify immigration status even in the context of federal public benefits. 

PRWORA has never been fully implemented by HUD, including the implementation of PRWORA immigration verification requirements for programs such as CDBG or HOME. Note that this differs from programs covered by Section 214 of the “Housing and Community Development Act of 1980” (e.g., public housing, the Housing Choice Voucher program) where immigration status is verified.  

November 2025 HUD Notice  

The Notice states that PRWORA applies to “all HUD programs related to public or assisted housing” unless another more specific federal statute applies, such as Section 214. HUD also lists a series of grant programs to which PRWORA applies, noted below. 

• Covered grant programs with governmental grantees include “HOME, HOME Investment Partnerships American Rescue Plan (HOME-ARP), National Housing Trust Fund, Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR), Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) formula, and [Emergency Solutions Grants], but also include Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing) and Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) (both competitive).”
• Programs that award grants to nonprofit organizations include “the CoC program, congressional earmarks, the HOPWA competitive program, PRO Housing, PRICE and the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP).” 

HUD states that it will “undertake a review and revised guidance” that will “determine the means” of verifying immigration status for those programs that do not fall under a PRWORA exemption. The guidance will address verification for government entities with Systemic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) access and for non-government entities. 

The Notice references the fact that, under PRWORA, nonprofit charitable programs are not required to verify immigration status. However, the Notice asserts that this does not relieve government entities from ensuring PRWORA compliance in their programs. Per the Notice, the forthcoming HUD guidance will address the issue of verifying PRWORA compliance where nonprofit charities are involved. The Notice also says that HUD will minimize information and collection requirements to the “maximum extent possible.”  

As noted above, the federal government has agreed in ongoing litigation not to enforce the Notice in 22 jurisdictions while the case proceeds; these jurisdictions include Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island. Vermont, Washington State, and Wisconsin.  

NHLP updated its existing memo that discusses PRWORA implementation in-depth to incorporate analysis of the Notice.  

Read HUD’s Federal Register Notice here. 

Read the agreement between HUD and 22 jurisdictions regarding the Notice here.  

Read NHLP’s analysis here.