How a Proposed Rule Would Make It Harder to Fight Housing Discrimination

On Monday, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will officially propose a major change to a well-settled standard in how the agency and the courts review claims of discrimination under the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

The standard, referred to as “disparate impact,” recognizes that groups protected under the Fair Housing Act can experience discrimination through policies and practices even if there is no evidence of an explicit intention to discriminate. And in today’s environment, implicit or unintentional acts of discrimination may be more common and harder to detect.

The proposal threatens to halt 50 years of progress toward fair and equal access to housing and credit, with sweeping implications for people of color, women, families with children, and people with disabilities.