Over 100 Community-based Organizations Launch ‘Fair Housing Week of Action’ to Protect Communities Harmed by Housing Discrimination

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Over 100 Community-Based Organizations Launch ‘Fair Housing Week of Action’ to Protect Communities Harmed by Housing Discrimination 

Five-day campaign will drive 5,000 letters to Congress and lawmaker meetings nationwide, pressing Congress to protect the local organizations that handle 74 percent of housing discrimination complaints brought by people in local communities nationally. 

Washington, D.C. — The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), on behalf of its members, today launched the ‘Fair Housing Week of Action,’ a five-day national mobilization to make certain communities throughout our country keep the local organizations people can call when they are unlawfully denied a home. 

Through July 17, more than 100 fair housing organizations will bring their case directly to Congress in meetings in their home districts and virtually. They are pairing those meetings with a public call to action and a goal of 5,000 letters to Congress by Friday. Sending one takes a name, a zip code, and less than a minute: https://bit.ly/FairHousingAction2026 

The ask is specific, and it has two parts. Congress should fully fund fair housing in the fiscal year 2027 budget, and it should require HUD to run the open, standard grant competition that has worked for more than three decades so the money Congress approves actually reaches the organizations on the frontlines doing the work. 

Community-based fair housing organizations are where most people go when they are illegally denied a home. In 2024, they processed 74 percent of all housing discrimination complaints filed in the country. HUD processed under 5 percent. These organizations are funded through the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP), a program created by Congress as the only federal source of support for private, nonprofit local fair housing enforcement and education. 

If that funding is cut off, the majority of these local organizations will close or lay off staff and sharply reduce services in local communities throughout the nation. That means: 

• Disabled veterans who need reasonable accommodations in housing will have no one to call. 

• Seniors and people with disabilities who need accessible housing will be turned away. 

• Families with children illegally blocked from renting a home will be pushed into unsafe living conditions. 

• Women facing sexual harassment from landlords will have nowhere to turn. 

• Survivors of domestic violence who have been improperly evicted may be forced back to their abuser. 

• Black and Brown families denied a home because of their race, and LGBTQ+ people turned away because of who they are, will lose the local ally who would have fought for them. 

HUD’s recent funding notices for the grants fair housing organizations rely on to serve their communities break sharply with Congress’ intent. For fiscal year 2025, HUD is not awarding any FHIP money at all for the local fair housing enforcement and education that has been the program’s primary purpose since its creation in 1987. Those funds are being repurposed primarily to two enormous awards to well-funded law schools that lack the capacity to assist people in local communities nationwide. For fiscal year 2026, HUD has made any organization that received 2023 or 2024 FHIP funds ineligible to apply, and the notice gives preference points to new applicants, penalizing the existing grantees with the deepest expertise in successfully serving people illegally locked out of housing. The Administration’s fiscal year 2026 and 2027 budget requests each proposed eliminating FHIP entirely. Congress rejected the 2026 request and restored the program’s funding. In 2027, Congress has the opportunity to fully restore funding once again.  

“If HUD’s new grant rules stand, fair housing organizations that have efficiently served their communities for decades will close their doors, and people facing housing discrimination will be left with little to no recourse,” said Nikitra Bailey, Executive Vice President of the National Fair Housing Alliance. “Congress must fully fund fair housing in 2027, and it must make sure that money reaches the communities it was meant for. There has long been strong bipartisan support for funding these organizations for more than three decades because they are effective. This week, fair housing organizations are carrying that record to members of Congress in their home districts, and asking the people of America to stand with them. The purpose is simple: every person in this country should have somewhere to turn when they are unlawfully denied a home, and we intend to make sure they do.”

FHIP was created during President Reagan’s second administration by a bipartisan Congress and made permanent under President George H. W. Bush in the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992. Congress wrote its rationale directly into the statute, finding that “the proven efficacy of private nonprofit fair housing enforcement organizations and community-based efforts makes support for these organizations a necessary component of the fair housing enforcement system.” Congress has funded the program with strong bipartisan support every year since. 

Alongside the congressional meetings and the letter campaign, the Week of Action includes a coordinated daily social media effort across NFHA and member organization channels, amplified by fair housing organizations nationwide, and media outreach across digital, TV, radio, and social platforms. 

Send a letter to Congress: https://bit.ly/FairHousingAction2026 

###

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.