Attorney General coalition challenges the Trump Administration’s attack on fair housing laws
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| In 1973, Trump and his father Fred were busted by HUD for racial discrimination in housing under the FHA. Gutting the FHA is another example of Trump's vengeance over past grievances |
From a press release:
Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha joined a coalition of 16 attorneys general filing a lawsuit challenging unlawful actions by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), including threats to withhold funding from state and local fair housing enforcement agencies for abiding by state laws and threats to impose illegal conditions on HUD funding.
These actions
threaten to weaken America’s fair housing enforcement system and undermine
states’ ability to ensure equal access to housing.
“This Administration is nothing if not consistent in its attempts to make life much harder for the vast majority of Americans,” said Attorney General Neronha. “For decades, HUD has worked in tandem with state agencies to root out discriminatory housing practices. We know this President isn’t guided by morality but by perceived political expedience. Even so, it’s hard to wrap one’s mind around why he thinks making it harder for Americans to obtain housing would fit into that category. HUD’s new guidance ignores the states’ right to enact laws that make sense for their residents and unlawfully attempts to hold federal funding hostage from those who don’t capitulate. There are few things more important than housing, and we will fight to make sure these longstanding protections stay intact.”
Sixty years ago, Congress enacted the Fair Housing Act (FHA)
to address pervasive housing discrimination. Congress also created a robust
partnership between HUD and state and local agencies, known as the Fair
Housing Assistance Program (FHAP), to enforce this landmark
civil rights law in tandem with state fair housing laws. The FHAP has had
strong bipartisan support in Congress and stable funding since its
establishment in 1980.
Through the FHAP, HUD refers allegations of housing
discrimination to state and local partner agencies for investigation and
enforcement. These agencies receive HUD funding, which they use to process
housing discrimination complaints, train staff, and support community outreach
and education.
In September 2025, HUD issued guidance threatening to
decertify FHAP state agencies from the program and cut off funding unless they
stop enforcing crucial protections against housing discrimination based on
sexual orientation, gender identity, language, criminal records, and source of
income. The guidance also bars agencies from pursuing claims targeting housing
practices that may appear neutral but are discriminatory and have a disparate
impact on certain populations. In Rhode Island and many other states, these
fair housing protections are enshrined in state law.
In addition to the threat to decertify partner agencies, HUD
is attempting to impose vague, ideologically motivated, and unlawful conditions
on program funding. Further, the coalition asserts that the administration’s
actions will raise the costs of enforcing state and federal fair housing laws
in their states. They also argue that HUD’s vague conditions will sow confusion
over enforcement.
In Rhode Island, the Rhode
Island Commission for Human Rights (RICHR) is charged with
antidiscrimination law enforcement and is a participating agency in FHAP. RICHR
enforces the Rhode
Island Fair Housing Practices Act, which expressly provides protections
based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or
expression, marital status, lawful source of income, military status, ancestral
origin, disability, age, familial status, and status as a victim of domestic
abuse. Because Rhode Island’s Fair Housing Act expressly protects classes
beyond those listed in the FHA, the policy change puts RICHR at risk of losing
its substantial equivalence certification for enforcing broader provisions than
those deemed allowed by HUD.
The attorneys general note that this unlawful ultimatum
comes after HUD gutted its own fair housing enforcement capabilities by
slashing its headcount and significantly reducing the number of housing
discrimination cases it charges. The agency also fired employee whistleblowers
after they publicly sounded the alarm about its decimation of fair housing
enforcement.
The coalition’s lawsuit alleges that HUD’s guidance violates
the Spending
Clause of the U.S. Constitution and the federal Administrative
Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies implement rule
changes.
Joining Attorney General Neronha in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.
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