National Fair Housing Alliance Forcefully Condemns the Trump Administration’s Unjust Rollback of Key Civil Rights Protection 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

National Fair Housing Alliance Forcefully Condemns the Trump Administration’s Unjust Rollback of Key Civil Rights Protection 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Fair Housing Alliance forcefully condemns the Trump Administration’s latest attack on a key civil rights protection that ensures equal treatment under the law. Today, Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ), without first proposing the change and seeking comment from the public, revised a decades-old regulation that bars recipients of federal funding from engaging in practices that have unintended, negative impacts on people based on race, color, or national origin.

The DOJ released the final rule undoing protections people in the U.S. have enjoyed since the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. The new rule specifically attacks Title VI of the law—now stating that recipients of federal dollars can only be held accountable for acts of discrimination that can be proven to be intentional.  

DOJ plays a coordinating role in the federal government with respect to Title VI enforcement. Rolling back this key civil rights responsibility is a grave injustice to the institution’s mission.  

Nikitra Bailey, Executive Vice President, National Fair Housing Alliance, issued the following statement: 

“The country is less fair and just today—without core protections that Title VI has provided for decades. Robust Title VI enforcement ensures that everyone benefits from key government programs that too often bypass some in need, such as disaster relief. This provision also ensures that cities do not overburden predominantly Black, Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and Native neighborhoods with toxic waste. Without disparate impact, it will be immeasurably harder to address such unjust results and remove arbitrary and unnecessary barriers to fairness. We call on Congress to immediately restore Title VI’s full protections and increase its oversight of the Trump Administration’s attacks on fair housing opportunities during the nation’s fair and affordable housing crisis.” 

For interviews, please e-mail NFHA Senior Advisor for Communications, Marketing, and Education Julian Glover at JGlover@NationalFairHousing.org 

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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 170 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.