ELIGIBILITY FOR PUBLIC AND ASSISTED HOUSING.

SEC. 576. ELIGIBILITY FOR PUBLIC AND ASSISTED HOUSING. Section 214 of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 1436a) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: “(h) Verification of Eligibility.— “(1) In general.— Except in the case of an election under paragraph (2)(A), no individual or family applying for financial assistance may receive such financial assistance prior to the affirmative establishment and verification of eligibility of at least the individual or one family member under this section by the Secretary or other appropriate entity. “(2) Rules applicable to public housing agencies.— A public housing agency (as that term is defined in section 3 of the United States Housing Act of 1937)— “(A) may elect not to comply with this section; and “(B) in complying with this section— “(i) may initiate procedures to affirmatively establish or verify the eligibility of an individual or family under this section at any time at which the public housing agency determines that such eligibility is in question, regardless of whether or not that individual or family is at or near the top of the waiting list of the public housing agency; “(ii) may affirmatively establish or verify the eligibility of an individual or family under this section in accordance with the procedures set forth in section 274A(b)(1) of the Immigration and Nationality Act; and 110 STAT. 3009–688 “(iii) shall have access to any relevant information contained in the SAVE system (or any successor thereto) that relates to any individual or family applying for financial assistance. “(3) Eligibility of families.— For purposes of this subsection, with respect to a family, the term ‘eligibility’ means the eligibility of each family member.”.