Lawyers for Civil Rights Demands Information from HUD on Housing Discrimination Cases Closed During Trump Administration
Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), seeking to uncover information about how the agency is handling discrimination complaints under the Fair Housing Act (FHA). The request comes amid growing concern that the Trump Administration is eroding key civil rights protections that prohibit racial segregation and discrimination in housing and related services, such as mortgage lending.
The FOIA request focuses in particular on “disparate impact” discrimination claims—challenges to policies that appear neutral but still have discriminatory effects and harm certain groups. In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that disparate impact liability is a valid and essential enforcement mechanism under the FHA. It helps counteract unconscious prejudices and disguised animus that escape easy classification as disparate treatment. However, earlier this year, the Trump Administration issued an Executive Order directing federal agencies to reconsider or eliminate the use of disparate impact liability. Following that directive, HUD has signaled an imminent rule change to weaken and eliminate this critical civil rights protection.
“Disparate impact liability is key to fair housing enforcement,” said Brooke Simone, attorney at Lawyers for Civil Rights. “Rolling it back would open the door to widespread discrimination in housing and lending—discrimination that may not be as explicit, but is just as harmful in practice.”
The potential rollback poses especially serious consequences for communities of color, women, and low-income renters. Undermining federal anti-discrimination law would exacerbate the ongoing housing crisis nationally and in Massachusetts, where high housing costs and exclusionary zoning practices perpetuate housing segregation.
“At a time when access to safe, fair, and affordable housing is under threat, HUD must be accountable,” said Oren Sellstrom, Litigation Director at LCR. “We cannot allow decades of civil rights progress to be undone.”
The FOIA request is available here.