U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced Friday that it has rescinded a 2020 Trump-era rule governing Fair Housing Act disparate impact claims and reinstated a 2013 Obama-era “discriminatory impact” rule which takes aim at discriminatory practices from the housing market.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!In a ruling to be published in the Federal Register, HUD said the 2013 rule “is consistent with how the Fair Housing Act has been enforced in the courts and before the agency for more than 50 years.” According to HUD, it more effectively implements comprehensive measures to eliminate discriminatory practices from housing.
“Housing discrimination persists today and individuals, including people of color and people with disabilities, continue to be denied equal access to rental housing and homeownership,” HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said in a statement. ,[This] The rule brings us one step closer to ensuring fair housing for all in this country.
Roughly five months into President Biden’s term, HUD indicated it wanted to reinstate the 2013 rule and repeal the 2020 rule with a proposal published in the Federal Register. The new rule cites a memo from Biden in which he directed the agency to take action to redress discriminatory housing policies and practices.
When handed down during the Trump administration, the 2020 rule led to a strong round of criticism, including from members of the housing industry Bank of America, City Group, quick loan And this National Association of Realtors, That pressure prompted HUD Secretary Ben Carson to update the guidelines, which enforced a requirement for regulators to prove intentional discrimination on the part of the lender.
The US District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction in a legal case against HUD prior to the 2020 rule’s effective date, stalling HUD’s implementation and enforcement, leaving the 2020 rule in limbo without going into full effect Hanged up
Still, HUD explained that the 2020 rule messed up its ability to set standards for what constitutes discriminatory action under the Fair Housing Act, including new pleas and defenses.
“Under the 2013 rule, the discriminatory effect framework was straightforward: a policy that had a discriminatory effect on a protected class was unlawful if it was not necessary to achieve a substantial, legitimate, nondiscriminatory interest or if a less The discriminatory choice could also serve an interest,” HUD said.
The rule is available for viewing in advance of its publication in the Federal Register and the agency has published a fact sheet about the new rule.
