Notice2025-21120
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA); Interpretation of “Federal Public Benefit”
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Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
November 26, 2025
Issuing agencies
Housing and Urban Development Department
Abstract
This notice sets forth the interpretation that the U.S. Department of Housing and Development (HUD) uses for the term "Federal public benefit" as used in Title IV of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), and its exceptions. In doing so, this notice supersedes any prior interpretation in any notice or other document issued by any HUD program or office.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 226 (Wednesday, November 26, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 226 (Wednesday, November 26, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54363-54365]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-21120]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
[DOCKET No. FR-6573-N-01]
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
of 1996 (PRWORA); Interpretation of ``Federal Public Benefit''
AGENCY: Office of the General Counsel, HUD.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the interpretation that the U.S.
Department of Housing and Development (HUD) uses for the term ``Federal
public benefit'' as used in Title IV of the Personal Responsibility and
Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA), and its
exceptions. In doing so, this notice supersedes any prior
interpretation in any notice or other document issued by any HUD
program or office.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. David C. Woll, General Counsel,
Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development, 451 7th St. SW, Room 10110, Washington, DC 20410,
telephone number 202-708-2244. HUD welcomes and is prepared to receive
calls from individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well as
individuals with speech or communication disabilities. To learn more
about how to make an accessible telephone call, please visit: <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs">https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs</a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
According to Section 401 of PRWORA, 8 U.S.C. 1611(a), aliens who
are not ``qualified aliens'' are not eligible for any ``Federal public
benefit'' as defined in 8 U.S.C. 1611(c). The prohibition set forth in
Sec. 1611(a) is subject to certain exceptions set forth in Sec.
1611(b).
Section 401(c) of PRWORA, defines ``Federal public benefit'' as
``(A) any grant, contract, loan, professional license, or commercial
license provided by an agency of the United States or by appropriated
funds of the United States'' and ``(B) any retirement, welfare, health,
disability, public or assisted housing, postsecondary education, food
assistance, unemployment benefit, or any other similar benefit for
which payments or assistance are provided to an individual, household,
or family eligibility unit by an agency of the United States or by
appropriated funds of the United States.'' 8 U.S.C. 1611(c)(1). This
definition, too, is subject to certain exceptions. See id. (c)(2)
(setting forth certain exceptions to the definition of ``Federal public
benefit'').
In addition, under Section 432 of PRWORA, as amended, to the extent
required by law, providers of a nonexempt ``Federal public benefit''
must verify that a person applying for the benefit is a qualified alien
and is eligible to receive the benefit. 8 U.S.C. 1642. While the
verification requirement is necessary for proper enforcement of PRWORA,
it is conceptually distinct from the meaning of the term ``Federal
public benefit'' and this notice is not intended to address the
application of such requirement. Neither does this notice speak to
``Federal public benefits'' that may be subject to other statutory
authority besides PRWORA regarding citizenship and alien eligibility.
In the list of substantive exceptions under 8 U.S.C. 1611(b)(1)
Congress provided that the prohibition against providing non-qualified
aliens with any federal public benefit ``shall not apply with respect
to the following Federal public benefits:
(B) Short-term, non-cash, in-kind emergency disaster relief [. . .]
``(D) Programs, services, or assistance (such as soup kitchens, crisis
counseling and intervention, and short-term shelter) specified by the
Attorney General, in the Attorney General's sole and unreviewable
discretion after consultation with appropriate Federal agencies and
departments, which (i) deliver in-kind services at the community level,
including through public or private nonprofit agencies; (ii) do not
condition the provision of assistance, the amount of assistance
provided, or the cost of assistance provided on the individual
recipient's income or resources; and (iii) are necessary for the
protection of life or safety.
II. Interpretation
Statutory construction ``must begin, and often should end as well,
with the language of the statute itself.'' United States v. Steele, 147
F.3d 1316, 1318 (11th Cir. 1998) (quoting Merritt v. Dillard, 120 F.3d
1181, 1185 (11th Cir. 1997). ``The plain meaning controls.'' United
States v. Robinson, 94 F.3d 1325, 1328 (9th Cir. 1996) (citation
omitted). The statutory language is clear: if a HUD program falls into
either Sec. 1611(c)(1)(A) or (c)(1)(B), such benefits are not
available to individuals who are aliens, unless (i) that individual is
a qualified alien, or (ii) some other exception applies to the HUD
program, either under Sec. 1611(b) or via the definitional limits on
``Federal public benefit'' set forth in (c)(2). Thus, the task is
simple: construe the plain language of (c)(1)(A)
[[Page 54364]]
and (c)(1)(B). Those provisions state that ``Federal public benefit''
means:
(A) any grant, contract, loan, professional license, or commercial
license provided by an agency of the United States or by appropriated
funds of the United States; and
(B) any retirement, welfare, health, disability, public or assisted
housing (emphasis added), postsecondary education, food assistance,
unemployment benefit, or any other similar benefit for which payments
or assistance are provided to an individual, household, or family
eligibility unit by an agency of the United States or by appropriated
funds of the United States.
If HUD ``provide[s]'' the (i) ``grant, contract, loan, professional
license, or commercial license,'' or if the ``grant, contract, loan,
professional license, or commercial license'' is ``provided by''
``appropriated funds of the United States,'' then such item is a
``Federal public benefit.'' Similarly, if HUD ``provide[s]'' the
``retirement, welfare, health, disability, public or assisted housing,
postsecondary education, food assistance, unemployment benefit, or any
other similar benefit,'' or such ``benefit'' is ``provided'' ``by
appropriated funds of the United States,'' then such benefit is a
``Federal public benefit,'' as long as the benefit is ``provided to''
one of three types of recipients: (i) ``an individual,'' (ii) a
``household,'' or (iii) a ``family eligibility unit.''
1. Grant
Section 1611(c)(1)(A) applies to ``any grant, contract, loan,
professional license, or commercial license'' provided by HUD. For
purposes of PRWORA, a grant means the award of funding for an
individual or entity to carry out specified activities without the
direct involvement of HUD.
HUD administers a multitude of grant programs, including those in
which the grants go to individuals, private entities, and institutions
(such as building or services grants) and those in which the grants go
to States, units of local government as well as non-profit
organizations. The grant ``recipient'' may carry out the activity
supported by the grant, but sometimes the recipient may issue a
subgrant to an individual or entity. For PRWORA purposes, the term
``grant'' includes any ``subgrant'' derivative of a grant. Sometimes
the activity supported by the grant is carried out by the recipient and
sometimes the recipient acts as a ``pass-through entity'' ``that
provides a subaward to a subrecipient to carry out part of a Federal
program,'' 2 CFR 200.1 (definitions for uniform grants guidance for all
Federal financial assistance), under which the obligations and
requirements on the recipient flow down to the subrecipient.
Section 1611 (c)(1) of PRWORA defines a ``Federal public benefit''
to mean ``any grant'' (emphasis added). ``Read naturally, the word
`any' has an expansive meaning, that is, one or some indiscriminately
of whatever kind.'' Ali v. Fed. Bureau of Prisons, 552 U.S. 214, 219
(2008) (cleaned up). The statutory text does not distinguish between
grants ``to individuals'' and grants ``provided to states or
localities.'' Contra 63 FR at 41659. And so, HUD must apply the plain
meaning of the statutory text. E.g., Pub. Serv. Elec. & Gas Co. v.
F.E.R.C., 989 F.3d 10, 19 (D.C. Cir. 2021) (``[A] regulation can never
trump the plain meaning of a statute.'') (quotes omitted).
It is HUD's position that any grants it administers that are not
explicitly governed by another statute are federal public benefits
related to housing assistance and are subject to the eligibility
requirements under PRWORA. HUD intends to revise its guidance as to
which grant programs are deemed covered by PRWORA or by another
statute.
2. ``Any Other Similar Benefit''
To determine whether a HUD program provides ``any other similar
benefit(s)'' under 8 U.S.C. 1611(c)(1)(B), it is instructive to look
not just to the enumerated benefits within 8 U.S.C. 1611(c)(1), but
also to the exempted Federal public benefits under 8 U.S.C. 1611(b)(1).
Here, Congress specified under subparagraphs (B) and (D) that there are
exemptions from the general alien restrictions of 8 U.S.C. 1611(a) for
certain types of Federal public benefits, including non-cash benefits
or in-kind services. In-kind is defined as ``in the same manner or with
something equivalent'' Webster's II: New Riverside University
Dictionary (1994). In the context of the statute, ``in-kind'' means
some sort of non-cash benefit that provides goods or services directly,
rather than providing cash to procure those goods or services. The
exception under subparagraph (D) applies more specifically to in-kind
services that are delivered ``at the community level, including through
public or private nonprofit agencies.'' It would not make sense for
Congress to exclude these limited non-cash or in-kind services
explicitly in 8 U.S.C. 1611(b)(1)(B) and (D) if at least some of those
benefits were not already captured under the operative definition of
``Federal public benefit'' under 8 U.S.C. 1611(c). Congress would have
no need to carve something out that would not otherwise be covered in
the first instance under the ``Federal public benefit'' definition. As
such, the general definition of ``Federal public benefit'' is best
understood to include ``assistance'' similar to the ``deliver[y] [of]
in-kind services at the community level, including through public or
private nonprofit agencies'' where such benefits have not been
specifically excluded by 8 U.S.C. 1611(b)(1).
III. Application to HUD Programs
HUD interprets PRWORA to apply to all HUD programs related to
public or assisted housing as they are ``public or assisted housing''
for which payments or assistance are ``provided to an individual,
household, or family eligibility unit by an agency of the United States
or by appropriated funds of the United States'' unless a more specific
federal statute applies, e.g. Section 214 of the Housing and Community
Development Act of 1980, as amended.
HUD has applied the provisions of PRWORA to its Community Planning
and Development programs and grants which include Homeless Assistance
Programs, particularly the Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) and
Continuum of Care (CoC) programs (see 24 CFR parts 576 and 578). HUD
considers these programs to award ``grants'' as defined in PRWORA and
therefore covered by the definition of ``Federal public benefit'' under
the statute. As a result, these grant programs are subject to the
eligibility and verification provisions under PRWORA.
The covered grant programs include, but are limited to, grants to
governments (state and local) or to other organizations. 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 ESG, 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 non-profit organizations
include the CoC program, Congressional earmarks, the HOPWA competitive
program, PRO Housing, PRICE and the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity
Program (SHOP).
[[Page 54365]]
IV. Verification and Economic Impact
HUD will undertake a review and revised guidance in order to
determine the means of verification of immigration status as they
affect those programs not exempt under Section 1611(b)(1). These will
address those program recipients (such as States and government actors)
who have access to the Systemic Alien Verification for Entitlements
(SAVE) program as well as non-government recipients. Under PRWORA,
although nonprofit charitable organizations that administer ``Federal
public benefits'' are not required to conduct eligibility verification
under 8 U.S.C. 1642(d), it does not relieve states or other
governmental from the requirements to ensure that all relevant programs
are in compliance with PWRORA. As a result, HUD will be issuing new
guidelines related to the verification for benefits provided through
its housing assistance and grant programs, including for benefits
distributed by charitable non-profit organizations. HUD will be relying
in guidance issued by the Department of Homeland Security once that is
published.
Due to the multitude of HUD programs that are available to tens of
millions of individuals, HUD will continue to evaluate the manner in
which it will verify compliance with PRWORA. HUD will, to the maximum
extent possible, minimize the imposition of reporting and information
and information collection requirements. Similarly, HUD continues to
analyze the economic impact of this interpretation, but at this time,
has not found there to be significant economic impact. HUD will issue
subsequent guidance on verification actions and a final determination
regarding the economic impact of this interpretation.
David C. Woll,
General Counsel, Office of the General Counsel.
[FR Doc. 2025-21120 Filed 11-25-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4210-67-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on November 26, 2025.
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