NFHA Leads 79-Organization Coalition Opposing HUD’s English-Only Discrimination Complaint Form

Civil rights, fair housing, consumer, domestic violence, and real estate groups reject redesigned form shutting nine percent of the public out of federal fair housing enforcement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

WASHINGTON—The National Fair Housing Alliance and 78 civil rights, fair housing, consumer, domestic violence, and real estate organizations are calling on the Office of Management and Budget to reject HUD’s redesigned housing discrimination complaint form, which would end the agency’s practice of accepting complaints in languages other than English.

In comments filed today, the coalition argues the changes violate the Fair Housing Act, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), and the Paperwork Reduction Act, and asks OMB to send the form back to HUD.

What is Form 903?

Form HUD-903 is how every person in the country reports housing discrimination to the federal government. HUD is discontinuing all seven translated versions of that form, removing the field that asks what language a complainant speaks, adding a bold English-only banner at the top of the page, and requiring complainants to swear under penalty of perjury that they’ve read a page of English statutory summaries. It also strikes the language identifying limited English proficiency as a form of national origin discrimination.

About 8.6 percent of people in the United States speak English less than “very well,” according to the American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. Under these changes, they would lose an important route to report and receive a federal investigation of their complaints of housing discrimination.

“During the nation’s fair and affordable housing crisis, HUD is making it more difficult for people to file complaints of housing discrimination,” said Nikitra Bailey, National Fair Housing Alliance Executive Vice President. “Many of these families are most likely to face unlawful housing discrimination in the first place and some already fear that their voices will not be heard. Now they’re being told they will not be able to report the harm to federal authorities in languages that are currently acceptable.”

What HUD is changing

HUD’s public notice describes the revision as a routine information collection update. The actual changes to the form go considerably further:

• Translated forms are gone. HUD is discontinuing the Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Vietnamese, Khmer, Korean, and Somali versions of the complaint form. They will not be renewed.
• An English-only banner sits at the top of the form, in bold capital letters inside a border, stating that HUD will use English as its sole language for all business and services. It’s the most prominent text on the page, ahead of the description of a complainant’s rights and the perjury warning.
•  The form no longer asks what language a complainant speaks. HUD is removing the preferred-language field entirely, which means the agency will have no record of who needs an interpreter.
• Complainants with Limited English Proficiency must now write their complaint in English and swear to its accuracy. 

This puts complainants with Limited English Proficiency at a disadvantage in exercising their fair housing rights during the housing crisis. Additionally, they may be chilled from filing out of fear that they may face negative consequences.

Who is most at risk?

The burden falls unevenly. Roughly 1.5 percent of non-Hispanic White residents are limited English proficient, compared with 29.3 percent of Asian Americans, 27.7 percent of Latinos, 27 percent of Black immigrants, 17.4 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native people, and 12.3 percent of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. These are the same communities HUD’s own research shows face some of the highest rates of housing discrimination in the country.

The Fair Housing Act requires HUD to accept complaints from any aggrieved person, a standard Congress wrote broadly on purpose. HUD has authority over the design of its forms. That authority stops well short of a form that locks out nine percent of the public.

The changes also conflict with the Violence Against Women Act. VAWA requires subsidized housing providers to give survivors of abuse notice of their housing rights, and the certification forms that go with them, in languages other than English. Congress wrote that translation requirement into the statute.

HUD’s redesigned form removes the only mechanism for enforcing it from anyone who needs it. A survivor of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking whose translated notice was never provided will have no way to tell HUD so. Neither does a survivor whose substantive VAWA rights were violated. Both would have to file in written English, under oath, or not at all.

What the coalition is asking OMB to do

HUD needs OMB’s sign-off under the Paperwork Reduction Act, which requires agencies to account for the burden a form places on the public before they can use it. HUD’s submission claims the new form takes the same 45 minutes to complete as the old one, a figure it carried over unchanged from 2023. That estimate assumes nothing has changed for the people who used to have a form in their own language and now have to find an interpreter or a translation service before they can begin.

The coalition argues that HUD’s submission fails the Paperwork Reduction Act on its face and should be sent back to the agency. The coalition is also asking OMB to hold the submission until HUD finishes the fair housing complaint-processing rulemaking it has already scheduled for later this year, which will change complaint submission requirements again.

“No matter where we come from or what language we speak, we all deserve the freedom to live where we want without fear of being evicted for who we are. But Trump’s HUD is doing everything it can to take control from us all, specifically Black and brown families, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, and survivors of gender-based violence,” said National Housing Law Project Chief Legal Officer Natalie Maxwell. “HUD’s proposed form changes will make it easier for landlords to discriminate and harder for families, especially those who are fleeing domestic violence, sexual assault, or human trafficking, to stay safely and stably housed. We urge HUD to reject these harmful changes and instead do its job–housing the people who need stability the most.”

NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS 

National Fair Housing Alliance 

African Communities Together 

American Civil Liberties Union Foundation 

Asian Real Estate Association of America

Center for Responsible Lending 

Consumer Action 

Integrated Community Solutions, Inc. 

Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law 

National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals 

National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development 

National Consumer Law Center (on behalf of its low-income clients) 

National Housing Law Project 

National Low Income Housing Coalition 

Poverty & Race Research Action Council 

The Legal Defense Fund 

The National Network to End Domestic Violence 

The Redress Movement 

UnidosUS 

STATE/LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS 

Alabama 

Alabama Coalition Against Domestic Violence 

Arizona 

ACLU of Arizona 

Southwest Fair Housing Council 

California 

California Partnership to End Domestic Violence 

Centro Legal de la Raza 

Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California 

Public Interest Law Project 

Connecticut 

Connecticut Fair Housing Center 

Connecticut Legal Rights Project 

CT Coalition Against Domestic Violence 

Open Communities Alliance 

Delaware 

Housing Alliance DE 

District of Columbia 

DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence 

DC/Maryland/Virginia 

Equal Rights Center 

Florida 

Fair Housing Center of the Greater Palm Beaches 

Georgia 

Georgia Advancing Communities Together, Inc. 

Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence 

Metro Fair Housing Services 

Idaho 

Intermountain Fair Housing Council 

Illinois 

Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago 

Open Communities 

South Suburban Housing Center 

Tenant Advocacy Clinic 

Indiana 

Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana 

Prosperity Indiana 

Louisiana 

Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center 

Maryland 

Maryland Legal Aid 

Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence 

Public Justice Center 

Massachusetts 

Community Teamwork 

Michigan 

Fair Housing Center of West Michigan 

Minnesota 

Housing Justice Center 

Metropolitan Interfaith Council on Affordable Housing 

Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid 

Neighborhood Development Alliance, Inc. 

Tubman 

Violence Free Minnesota 

New Jersey 

Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey 

New York 

Greater Syracuse Tenants Network 

Housing Opportunities Made Equal, Inc. 

Hudson Valley Justice Center 

Long Island Housing Services, Inc. 

North Carolina 

North Carolina Coalition to End Homelessness

North Dakota 

High Plains Fair Housing Center 

Ohio 

Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc. 

Fair Housing Advocates Association 

Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research 

Fair Housing Resource Center 

Miami Valley Fair Housing Association, Inc. 

Ohio Domestic Violence Network 

The Fair Housing Center 

Rhode Island 

Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence 

Tennessee 

Fair Housing Council of Metropolitan Memphis 

Texas 

Texas Appleseed 

Virginia 

Housing Opportunities Made Equal of VA 

Legal Aid Justice Center 

Washington 

Coalition Ending Gender-Based Violence  

Washington Housing Alliance 

Washington State Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence 

Wisconsin 

End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin 

Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council

Read the full comment letter here.

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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.