U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
WASHINGTON, DC 20410-1000

JUN 11 2.019

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR CONGRESSIONAL
AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS

The Honorable Pete Aguilar
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative Aguilar:
Thank you for your letter of May 8, 2019, requesting clarification of the Department of
Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) policies impacting the eligibility of individuals with
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status to obtain mortgages insured by the Federal
Housing Administration (FHA). HUD has been very clear that it has not implemented any policy
changes during the current Administration, either formal or informal, with respect to FHA eligibility
requirements for DACA recipients. This letter confirms that fact.
Since at least October 2003, FHA has maintained published policy that non-U.S. citizens
without lawful residency “are not eligible for FHA-insured loans.”1 This same policy was
incorporated in the Single-Family Housing Handbook in September 2015—under the previous
Administration—and clearly states that “[n]on-U.S. citizens without lawful residency in the U.S. are
not eligible for FHA-insured mortgages.”2
This policy predates the creation of DACA by at least nine years. In establishing DACA on
June 15, 2012, Janet Napolitano, then the Secretary of Homeland Security, made clear that DACA
is merely an exercise of “prosecutorial discretion” and “confers no substantive right, immigration
status or pathway to citizenship.” Secretary Napolitano further stated that “[o]nly Congress, acting
through its legislative authority, can confer these rights.”
Determination of citizenship and inmiigration status is not the responsibility of HUD and the
Department relies on other government agencies for this information. Accordingly, because DACA
does not confer lawful status, DACA recipients remain ineligible for FHA loans.
if I can be of further assistance, please let me know.

‘Len Wolfson
Assistant Secretary for Congressional
and Intergovernmental Relations

I
Revision 5 of Handbook 4155.1, Mortgage Credit Analysis for Mortgage Insurance, One to Four Family Properties,
chapters 2-2(B) (October 20, 2003), https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/4 155 1C2HSGH.PDF.
2

Single Family Policy Handbook 4000.1 § II.A. 1 .b.ii(A)(9)(c) (September 14, 2015),
https:!/www.hud.gov/sites/documents/4000 lhsgh.pdf

www.hud.gov

espanoLhud.gov