Fair housing is a civil right protected by the Fair Housing Act (FHA). And yet, housing discrimination and segregation still persist, causing long-term societal effects in America. Segregation and discrimination in housing harm people’s health, their ability to accumulate wealth and the environment.
Today, the U.S. Senate confirmed Marcia L. Fudge as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
HUD’s withdrawal from the Massachusetts disparate impact case is a first step to definitively end the Trump Administration’s attempt to undermine fair housing enforcement.
I applaud President Biden for signing four executive orders today that will help advance the goal of racial equity. The order directing HUD to address the nation’s long history of systemic racism in housing is of particular importance to us. Acknowledging the federal government’s role in perpetuating segregation, including the lasting impacts of redlining, is essential to addressing America’s ever growing racial wealth divide.
Donald Trump’s victory four years ago was unimaginable to many, and an emotional blow that only got worse over time. Until now. The post election drama is mostly over. The Electoral College is done. We finally know: Joe Biden will be the 46th president, and Kamala Harris will be many firsts as vice president: Black, South Asian, woman, mom.
The Trump Administration has attacked one of the most vital pieces of civil rights legislation, the Fair Housing Act, on multiple fronts in the last several weeks. They gutted the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule that enforces fairness in housing. Now, they are effectively eliminating the disparate impact standard in fair housing cases.
LGBTQ+ Americans are less likely to own their homes when compared to their straight, cisgender counterparts, and they are more likely to experience financial hardship.
Fair housing advocates denounce Trump’s newest effort to eliminate a critical tool to desegregate communities and call on the president to instead concentrate on ensuring housing equity during a pandemic.
Today, President Trump replaced the 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule with a much weaker one, and without any public comment process, despite the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) proposed rule change filed in January.
As real estate agents scramble for new business, compliance with civil rights laws may not be the first thing on their minds. Yet evidence suggests that as housing sales plummeted in April, the amount of racial discrimination in the housing sales market plummeted alongside it.
The practice of restricting neighborhoods to certain races or incomes was a significant part of America’s segregated past. Discrimination in lending and housing is generally less overt than it used to be, but it’s still a problem.
In this Q&A, SHA Director of Public Policy Veronica Beaty discusses the importance of affordable housing and the organization’s recent policy objectives.
The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) and 45 additional community and fair housing organizations have submitted a joint comment letter to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) encouraging the department to maintain the disparate impact standard, which the agency has proposed to weaken.
Fair housing laws protect minorities from discrimination, but they haven’t eliminated bad behavior in the lending and housing industries.
Fair housing testing and analysis can be used to address issues of environmental and racial justice as well as enforce fair housing laws and industrial safety rules.
