NFHA and Interagency Task Force Issue Action-Oriented Reports to Address Bias in Appraisals
By: Hope Williams, Supervising Attorney The first months of 2022 brought significant news impacting ongoing efforts to address the legacy of discrimination in housing appraisals. In January 2022, the National Fair Housing Alliance and its partners, Dane Law LLC and Christensen Law Firm, published a federally-funded report, entitled “Identifying Bias and Barriers, Promoting Equity: An... Read More
HUD to Review Program Policies, Regulations, and Sub-Regulatory Documents to Eliminate Barriers that Unnecessarily Prevent Individuals with Criminal Histories from Participating in HUD Programs
On April 12, 2022, Secretary Fudge issued a Memorandum recognizing that individuals with criminal histories often face barriers to obtaining and maintaining housing, including public housing, HUD-assisted housing, and HUD-insured housing. The Memorandum also recognized that individuals with criminal histories are also disproportionately racial minorities or people with disabilities. As a result, Secretary Fudge issued... Read More
High Point Housing Authority Settles Discrimination Case; Compensates Tenant Rejected because of Criminal Arrests and Agrees to Adopt Fair Criminal History Policy for All Tenant Applicants
Legal Aid of North Carolina recently settled a housing discrimination complaint against the High Point Housing Authority (HPHA), a public housing authority located in High Point, North Carolina. The complaint was filed with the NC Human Relations Commission (NCHRC) by a 55-year-old Black female whose application for a Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher was improperly... Read More
Office of Inspector General Report: HUD did not have Adequate Policies and Procedures for Ensuring that Public Housing Agencies Properly Processed Tenant Reasonable Accommodation Requests
The Office of Inspector General recently concluded an audit of HUD’s oversight of its public housing agencies’ (PHA) reasonable accommodation policies and procedures. The audit was initiated because of an identified increase over an eleven-year period, from 2009 to 2019, in housing discrimination complaints based on a failure to provide a reasonable accommodation, even as... Read More
Listen: Deep Dive: Fair Housing
Melissa Harris-Perry and Dorian Warren hosted a Deep Dive segment in April about the Fair Housing Act on NPR’s The Takeaway. The segment covers the history and current state of fair housing in America, including some of the most pressing fair housing issues facing individuals and communities. The show’s featured guests included: Lisa Rice, President and... Read More