The National Fair Housing Alliance Celebrates Tremendous Progress in Advancing Equitable Opportunities During the Biden-Harris Administration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

January 19, 2025 

Media Contact: NFHA@skdknick.com 

The National Fair Housing Alliance Celebrates Tremendous Progress in Advancing Equitable Opportunities During the Biden-Harris Administration

Washington, D.C. –  Today, Lisa Rice, President, and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance® (NFHA™), released the following statement as the Biden-Harris Administration draws to a close:

“With immense gratitude, we honor President Joseph R. Biden for his five decades of honorable service to our nation. And we honor Vice President Kamala Harris for breaking barriers as the nation’s first woman, Black, and South Asian vice president. As America’s 46th Presidential Administration, they ushered in an era of strength, prosperity, and security. The Biden-Harris Administration began during a tumultuous time for our nation. The devastation of COVID-19 was disproportionately harming communities of color; frontline workers were risking their lives to keep the economy afloat and provide critical services to people; the mortgage market required extensive federal intervention; people of all backgrounds elevated the call for justice and police accountability; millions of families required support to remain safely housed; the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department were propping up the U.S. economy; and many of the nation’s small businesses were unfairly excluded from the first round of the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program’s initial $349 billion, resulting in 40 percent of Black small companies and 32 percent of Latino small companies  going out of business in the program’s initial days.

NFHA released a policy roadmap at the start of the Biden-Harris Administration and 117^th-118^th Congresses. With support from the Administration, we are pleased to have achieved the vast majority (70 percent) of our bold, equity-focused agenda for housing, lending, and responsible AI. Below is a celebration of the advances. The policies are rooted in the fundamental belief that each of us deserves dignity, and all people should be able to fairly access opportunity and share in the nation’s prosperity.

The Biden-Harris Administration advanced fair and affordable housing, taking bold and generational-shifting actions to expand economic opportunity for millions. The Administration’s policies resulted in Black homeownership growing for the first time since the Great Recession’s declines, which started in 2004 for Black communities. From 2019 – 2023, the Black homeownership rate grew by 13 percent and the Latino homeownership rate grew by 7.5 percent. This growth resulted in the Black/White homeownership gap decreasing by 2.2 percent and the Latino/White homeownership gap decreasing by 2.5 percent. From confronting a long-lasting fair and affordable housing crisis, which began during the Great Recession, to increasing the housing supply, strengthening tenant protections, and tackling housing and lending discrimination, the Biden-Harris Administration kept millions of Americans housed and took important steps toward ensuring all people could build generational wealth through homeownership.

The Biden-Harris Administration has set a new standard for progress through inclusive policies, making a difference in the lives of millions, especially people of color, women, people with disabilities, families with children, LGBTQ+, people of faith, and more. For their strong leadership, compassionate service, and honor, the nation is grateful. The Administration’s legacy will be defined by a commitment to the principles of fairness, justice, and dignity for all.”  

Key fair housing and equitable lending achievements of the Biden-Harris Administration include:

• Day one executive action on “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government;” building on the U.S. Supreme Court’s Bobstock v. Clayton County decision ensuring the federal government interprets Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as prohibiting workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, and directing federal agencies to take all lawful actions to make sure federal anti-discrimination statutes that cover sex discrimination prohibits discrimination on sexual orientation and gender identity; and advancing equity, meaning “the consistent and systematic fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals…”, across the Federal Government.
• In the Administration’s first month, issuing a “Memorandum on Redressing Our Nation’s and the Federal Government’s History of Discriminatory Housing Practices and Policies,” promoting actions to create and support vibrant and healthy diverse and inclusive communities, and directing the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to address systemic racism in housing by enforcing the Fair Housing Act and redressing previous policies and practices that undermined fair housing laws.
• Assisting over eight million renters and more than 500,000 homeowners with aid during the pandemic through the American Rescue Plan’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program and Homeowner Assistance Fund.
• Restoring staffing and resources at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and enabling HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) to be effective.
• Establishing the first-of-its-kind interagency task force on Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity (PAVE) to address bias in home valuations.
• Successfully securing the confirmations of nominees with a demonstrated commitment to fair housing to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency (Director Sandra Thompson), Ginnie Mae (President Alanna McCargo), and the Federal Housing Administration (Commissioner Julia Gordon).  And appointing noted fair housing attorney Demetria McCain as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for FHEO.
• Nominating and securing the successful confirmations of the first Black woman (Dr. Lisa D. Cook) and first Latina (Dr. Adriana Kugler) to serve on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.
• Issuing precedent-setting guidance clarifying that Special Purpose Credit Programs, implemented properly and in accordance with the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, do not violate the Fair Housing Act. This guidance helped open the doors for thousands of creditworthy consumers to be assessed for mortgage credit based on their rental housing payment history and other sound underwriting criteria.
• Ensuring HUD’s rules and policies centered equity and the responsibility to ensure federal housing and community development funding is used to create vibrant communities for everyone, which has assisted millions of people of color, women, people with disabilities, families with children, LGBTQ+ persons, and more with fairer rental and homeownership opportunities.

• Working with Congress to secure necessary funding for local fair housing enforcement agencies to conduct the important work of continuing to operate as first responders combatting increased complaints of housing discrimination.

• Releasing Equitable Housing Finance Plans for the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) to promote safety and soundness in U.S. financial markets and foster equitable access to quality, affordable, and sustainable housing and credit opportunities. This resulted in the housing giants increasing focus on their critical missions.
• Securing a first-of-its kind Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between HUD and the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to strengthen the agencies’ enforcement of the Fair Housing Act and oversight of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banks. 
• Releasing a groundbreaking analysis of an important factor driving racial disparities in appraisals. FHFA’s analysis found that appraisers are more likely to adjust for rising market conditions or “time adjustments” for homes in majority-White census tracts that would otherwise fall below the contract price than for homes in majority-Black or majority-Latino census tracts. FHFA noted that these time adjustments can be decisive in determining whether a home appraises at the contract price and the home purchase transaction can go forward.
• Proposing funding for First-Generation Down Payment Assistance programs in the president’s budgets to ensure fair access to homeownership for families with less access in urban, suburban, and rural communities.
• Making changes to the GSEs’ mortgage pricing framework to create a more equitable system for creditworthy borrowers.
• Establishing at FHFA a new Division of Public Interest Examinations placing FHFA’s responsibility to ensure fairness in the housing finance system on par with its safety and soundness obligations.
• Requiring FHA lenders to use the Fannie Mae/ Freddie Mac Supplementary Consumer Information Form to collect a mortgage applicant’s language preference to enable lenders to make information available in the languages that borrowers will understand best.
• Through the Department of Justice Combatting Redlining Initiative, securing record-setting settlements exceeding $150 million in relief for communities of color that have been the victims of mortgage lending discrimination. This historic amount of relief is expected to generate over $1 billion in investments to address unequal access to credit in communities of color throughout the nation.
• Issuing a “Blueprint for an Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights” in recognition of technology and artificial intelligence as the new civil rights frontier.
• Issuing an Executive Order, “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence,” to harness AI for good, ensure the U.S. remains at the forefront of technological advancement, promote the use of AI to solve urgent challenges, and ensure people and communities benefit from and are not harmed by AI.

About the National Fair Housing Alliance 

The National Fair Housing Alliance® (NFHA™) is the country’s only national civil rights organization dedicated solely to eliminating all forms of housing and lending discrimination and ensuring equal opportunities for all people. As the trade association for over 200 fair housing and justice-centered organizations and individuals throughout the U.S. and its territories, NFHA works to dismantle longstanding barriers to equity and build diverse, inclusive, well-resourced communities.