HUD’s New Rule Guts the Fair Housing Act

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A Statement by Chicago Lawyers’ Committee

On this day 57 years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered an iconic speech at the March on Washington before hundreds of thousands who had gathered to demand their civil rights. They wanted concrete action from the federal government, in Dr. King’s words, “to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.” A comprehensive piece of civil rights legislation was proposed to guarantee access to public accommodations, integrated schools, voting rights, and decent housing. Ultimately, the demand for housing proved the toughest to achieve. Five years after the March on Washington – on the heels of Dr. King’s assassination and the more than 125 riots that followed — Congress finally passed the landmark 1968 Fair Housing Act.

Despite that law, housing segregation continues to keep far too many Black families trapped in high-poverty neighborhoods with little access to jobs or quality schools. In Chicago, the same zip codes that endured historic housing and economic disinvestment are now experiencing the city’s highest death rates from COVID-19. Evictions and rising rents are threatening more housing instability in these neighborhoods at a time when folks are most vulnerable. It should be clearer than ever that people’s lives – Black lives – depend in no small part on federal enforcement of the Fair Housing Act.

Yet earlier this month, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) made an unconscionable choice to undermine the law through a new rule.  Deceivingly titled “Preserving Community and Neighborhood Choice,” the new regulation abdicates HUD’s legal duty under the Fair Housing Act to make sure that localities “affirmatively further fair housing” by eliminating the agency’s essential oversight. In case the subtext was too subtle, President Trump clarified the rule’s meaning through a racially-charged tweet: “The ‘suburban housewife’ will be voting for me […] I ended the long running program where low income housing would invade their neighborhood.”

Rarely in the last 57 years have we read such a direct call from an elected leader to return to unbridled housing discrimination. The president’s recent dog whistle, coming on the heels of the new HUD rule, reveals the administration’s clear intent: to enable and legally sanction racial segregation and to undo decades of work to create healthy and inclusive communities. At Chicago Lawyers’ Committee, we’ve conducted hundreds of fair housing tests across Cook County to identify patterns of discrimination and brought multiple federal cases challenging discriminatory policies under the Fair Housing Act. We will continue to use every tool at our disposal to fight displacement, disinvestment, and racial segregation.

While the latest HUD rule will undoubtedly face legal challenge, we must ensure that local jurisdictions continue to advance fair housing in the absence of national leadership. We call on our City, County, and State governments to proactively engage with community stakeholders to create inclusive communities. Only by continuing this work can we hope to fulfill the promise of the Fair Housing Act and achieve the aspirations of those civil rights protesters – past and present - who demand true racial justice.