Coalition of 96 National, State, and Community-Based Organizations and Former HUD Official Oppose HUD’s Removal of Long-Standing Safeguard for Fairness in Federal Financial Assistance Programs
WASHINGTON—The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), joined by 95 other fair housing, consumer advocacy, and civil rights organizations and a former HUD official, filed a comment today urging HUD to withdraw its proposed rule removing disparate impact protections from its Title VI regulations. Those protections help ensure equal opportunity and freedom from unnecessary barriers in HUD federal financial assistance.
The coalition argues that HUD’s legal reasoning is unjustified, and that the rule will further incentivize states and municipalities to steer critical disaster relief funds away from hardest-hit underserved communities and favor wealthier zip codes. These protections are vital to ensuring that federal dollars reach all communities fairly across programs administered by states, local governments, and public housing authorities.
“In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, HUD found that Texas directed disaster recovery funds away from Black and Latino neighborhoods in Houston, even as those communities faced significant damage. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provides an important safeguard against this kind of discrimination in federally funded programs,” said Nikitra Bailey, NFHA Executive Vice President. “Now HUD is attempting to roll back common-sense protections that ensure no community is left behind when disaster strikes.”
This is HUD’s second attack on disparate impact protections in the same rulemaking. The agency earlier proposed scrapping its Fair Housing Act disparate impact regulations and leaving the question to the courts, a proposal NFHA opposed in formal comments. Now HUD wants to drop its decades-old Title VI requirement that recipients of HUD funding set aside policies that are unfair and unnecessary that are based on race, even when they are not overt. It stops federally funded programs from shutting out communities through policies that serve no legitimate purpose.
HUD’s proposed changes will no longer require jurisdictions and public housing authorities to select the fairest choice possible when allocating resources, but it will instead leave communities subject to unlawful discrimination in federally funded programs based on race, color, or national origin.
The following organizations signed the letter to HUD:
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
- National Fair Housing Alliance
- Access Ready, Inc.
- African Communities Together
- American Association of People with Disabilities
- Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund
- Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)
- Center for Responsible Lending
- Coalition for Human Needs
- Consumer Federation of America
- Justice in Aging
- League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
- Mobility Works, Inc.
- National Action Network
- National Alliance to End Homelessness
- National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD)
- National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC)
- National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients)
- National Homelessness Law Center
- National Housing Law Project
- National Housing Resource Center
- National Low Income Housing Coalition
- National Network for Youth
- National Urban League
- Operation Restoration
- PolicyLink
- Public Justice
- Race Forward
- The Kelsey
- The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
- The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
- The Pathfinder Network – Parenting Inside Out
- The Redress Movement
- The Woodstock Institute
- UnidosUS
STATE/LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS
Alabama
- Center for Fair Housing
Arizona
- Southern Arizona Legal Aid, Inc.
- Southwest Fair Housing Council
- William E. Morris Institute for Justice
California
- CSA San Diego County
- Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California
- Fair Housing Council of Central CA
- Housing Rights Center
- Project Sentinel, Inc.
- Public Interest Law Project
- Western Center on Law & Poverty
Connecticut
- Connecticut Fair Housing Center
- Open Communities Alliance
District of Columbia/Maryland/Virginia/West Virginia
- Equal Rights Center
Florida
- Fair Housing Center of the Greater Palm Beaches
- Jacksonville Area Legal Aid
Georgia
- Metro Fair Housing Services, Inc.
Louisiana
- Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center
Idaho
- Intermountain Fair Housing Council, Inc.
Illinois
- Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago
- Open Communities
- South Suburban Housing Center
Indiana
- Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana
Maryland
- Advocacy and Training Center
- Public Justice Center
Massachusetts
- Boston’s Higher Ground
- Community Teamwork
- Greater Boston Legal Services, Inc., on behalf of BTC et. al.
Michigan
- Fair Housing Center of Southwest Michigan
- Fair Housing Center of West Michigan
- Great Lakes ADA Center of Michigan
- The Change Up Midnight Coalition
Minnesota
- Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing (MICAH)
Nevada
- Nevada Housing Justice Alliance
New Jersey
- Fair Housing Council of Northern New Jersey
- Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey
New Mexico
- United South Broadway Corporation
New York
- A Little Piece of Light
- CNY Fair Housing
- Fair Housing Justice Center
- Housing Opportunities Made Equal, Inc., of Buffalo, NY
- Long Island Housing Services, Inc.
- South Country Peace Group
North Carolina
- North Carolina Justice Center
Ohio
- Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc.
- Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research
- Fair Housing Resource Center
- Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Greater Cincinnati
- Miami Valley Fair Housing Center, Inc.
- The Fair Housing Center
Pennsylvania
- Fair Housing Rights Center in Southeastern PA
Tennessee
- Fair Housing Council of Metropolitan Memphis
Texas
- Fair Housing Council of South Texas
- Greater Houston Fair Housing Center
- Texas Housers
Vermont
- Housing & Homelessness Alliance of VT
Virginia
- Hampton Roads Community Action Program
- Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia (HOME)
- Legal Aid Justice Center
Wisconsin
- Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council
INDEPENDENT STATE AGENCIES
- Vermont Human Rights Commission
FORMER PUBLIC OFFICIALS
- Sara Pratt, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Programs, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Read the full comment letter here.
Press inquiries: jglover@nationalfairhousing.org
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About the National Fair Housing Alliance
The National Fair Housing Alliance leads a coalition that works to build inclusive, well-resourced, and resilient communities; expand equitable opportunities; and end housing discrimination.
About The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
The Center for Civil Rights and Technology (Center) is a joint project of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund. The Center, launched in September 2023, serves as a one-of-its-kind hub for advocacy, education, and research at the intersection of civil rights and technology.
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 240 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.