Lest people think the threat that undocumented immigrants is not real, AP and Yahoo decided make sure this year is another year of unfounded fears. Yesterday they published a story with the headline: “Many illegal immigrants live in public housing”.

What the article essentially does is point the finger at undocumented immigrants for long waits for public housing and for a lack of affordable housing in general.

Untold thousands of illegal immigrants live in public housing at a time when hundreds of thousands of citizens and legal residents are stuck waiting years for a spot.

The impression is that the undocumented are breaking the law by living in public housing when if you read the article carefully, that’s not really the case.

The federal government, which funds the lion’s share of the nation’s public housing, requires only that illegal immigrants share a home with at least one family member who is in the country legally and pay their share of the rent.

So no law is being broken and if one person in the household is documented, chances are they need housing too so no one really “stealing” space as the headline and opening paragraph would make one think.

Some state and locally funded public housing programs are actually prohibited from asking the immigration status of applicants, like Massachusetts, where Zeituni Onyango, an aunt of President-elect Barack Obama, lived. So again, no law was broken (and anyway when Onyango applied she was in the country legally seeking asylum).

Why not fight for affordable housing for all, since the lack of affordable housing in general is the real reason for huge waiting lists and not enough available units?

Oh wait, because then we couldn’t use the undocumented as scapegoats, and justify the denial of basic needs, like housing, food, and the basic right to walk around without being afraid of being attacked.

Happy New Fear.

Via / Yahoo!