Civil Rights & Fair Housing Groups Support Disparate Impact Rule

Following Litigation Victory, Civil Rights and Fair Housing Organizations Submit Comments in Strong Support of Disparate Impact Rule 

Citing extensively to a landmark nationwide injunction secured by Lawyers for Civil Rights and Anderson & Kreiger, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is reinstating anti-discrimination protections in the Fair Housing Act. These critical protections, which the Trump Administration sought to undermine, were the subject of Massachusetts Fair Housing Center v. HUD, a groundbreaking lawsuit challenging the Trump Administration’s attempt to gut the disparate impact provisions of the Fair Housing Act, which would have made it nearly impossible for victims of housing and lending discrimination to seek judicial redress. The first of its kind in the country, the lawsuit secured a nationwide preliminary injunction and stay precluding the Trump Administration’s rule from ever coming into effect. The Biden Administration has now proposed an ameliorative rule.Lawyers for Civil Rights and Anderson & Kreiger submitted comments on behalf of the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center and Housing Works, in strong support of the proposed rule. 

“This standard is a critical tool for victims of housing and lending discrimination seeking to vindicate their right to safe, affordable, and fair housing and to ending the scourge of residential segregation in the United States,” said Lauren Sampson, Staff Attorney at Lawyers for Civil Rights.  “Our clients are at the forefront of housing discrimination in some of the most segregated metropolitan areas in the country. We call upon HUD to not only reinstate the disparate effects standard, but to commit significant financial and human resources to investigating and prosecuting housing providers engaged in discriminatory practices.” 

The comments are available here:

Comments-to-Proposed-HUD-Rule