The National Housing Conference (NHC) is strongly supportive of HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge’s decision to reinstate the 2013 Disparate Impact rule and 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulation. Both regulations were rescinded by the Trump administration in a transparent effort to gut civil rights protections required under the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
NHC’s Oct. 18, 2019 comment letter on the Disparate Impact rule, made clear that “the often wide delta between intention and impact is the cornerstone of the concept of the disparate impact standard, which is a critical component of the Fair Housing Act of 1968,” noting that the “concept of disparate impact, as outlined in the Fair Housing Act, has been upheld by 11 of the 13 U.S. Courts of Appeals decision, as well as by the Supreme Court.”
NHC strongly condemned HUD’s 2020 elimination and replacement of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule, stating that “Reasonable people can disagree on the technical elements of any regulation, but nothing about this action is reasonable. It guts the purpose of this important civil rights legislation.” “Eliminating the AFFH regulation is an invitation to do nothing to address the impact local policies and practices can have on increasing racial inequality.”
HUD’s reinstatement of these critically important civil rights rules is an important first step to ensuring that federal, state and local governments are committed to fair housing and closing the significant and unacceptable racial wealth gap. Progress on closing the racial wealth gap will not occur with housing.
###
The National Housing Conference has been defending our American Home since 1931. #OurAmericanHome @natlhousingconf @davidmdworkin
About NHC: The National Housing Conference has been defending the American Home since 1931. Everyone in America should have equal opportunity to live in a quality, affordable home in a thriving community. NHC convenes and collaborates with our diverse membership and the broader housing and community development sectors to advance our policy, research, and communications initiatives to effect positive change at the federal, state, and local levels. Politically diverse and nonpartisan, NHC is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.