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Lawmakers, Advocates Push Back Against HUD Fair Housing Retreat
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The Washington Informer
Recent whistleblower complaints of systemic dismantling of fair housing and civil rights enforcement at the Department of Housing and Urban Development have led ranking minority members of both chambers of Congress to jointly call for hearings.
The two lawmakers also identified specific HUD leadership actions that substantiate their requests:Advised staff that fair housing work was “not a priority” but an “optics problem” and encouraged reassignment within the agency as fair housing staff was cut by 70%.
“The enforcement of fair housing and civil rights laws is not an ‘optics problem,'” the lawmakers wrote.
Two September memorandums — one sent to HUD staff and the other to Fair Housing Initiatives Program Grantees — made clear the agency’s shift away from pursuing investigations and enforcement of fair housing violations and toward swift investigation of alleged violators that prevent burdensome investigations.
For many consumers and housing advocates alike, catering to alleged fair housing violators instead of those measurably harmed by their actions is a distortion of the letter and spirit of the Fair Housing Law.