Establish new programs to detect discriminatory practices in housing or mortgage practices?

Civil Rights Social Welfare
Housing Fairness Act (H.R. 68)
Awaiting Vote
Bill Summary

This legislation authorizes funding for nationwide testing to identify housing discrimination and increases support for the Fair Housing Initiatives Program. It authorizes $42.5 million for the 2024-2028 fiscal years to raise efforts in identifying poor and discriminatory housing practices. Key components include: Funding for Anti-Discrimination Testing: The bill authorizes funds to support nationwide testing programs designed to identify discriminatory practices in housing. These programs would employ methods such as paired testing, where individuals of different backgrounds pose as prospective tenants or buyers to uncover biases in renting, selling, or mortgage lending. Support for the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP): The legislation proposes increased funding for FHIP, which provides grants to public and private organizations to assist individuals who believe they have been victims of housing discrimination. This support aims to enhance education, outreach, and enforcement activities related to fair housing laws. Broadening Protections Against Discrimination: The act seeks to address discrimination not only based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, disability, or national origin but also extends protections to veterans, women, families with children, and persons with disabilities, ensuring a more inclusive approach to fair housing. Furthermore, the bill also projects to enable grants to assist non-profits and public organizations in researching housing discrimination and segregation. Sponsor: Rep. Al Green (Democrat, Texas, District 9)
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Opponents say

•      "HUD programs tend to perpetuate the notion of bureaucratically provided housing as a basic life need and, whether intentionally or not, fail to acknowledge that these public benefits too often have led to intergenerational poverty traps, have implicitly penalized family formation in traditional two-parent marriages, and have discouraged work and income growth, thereby limiting upward mobility. A new conservative Administration will therefore need to: l) Reset HUD. This effort should specifically include a broad reversal of the Biden Administration’s persistent implementation of corrosive progressive ideologies across the department’s programs. 2) Implement an action plan across both process and people. This plan should include both the immediate redelegation of authority to a cadre of political appointees and the urgent implementation of administrative, regulatory actions with respect to HUD policy and program eligibility." Source: Project 2025


•      "The studies found that AAPIs were treated less favorably than white people when searching for housing. In the most recent study, AAPI testers were told about 9.8 percent fewer available rental properties than comparably qualified white counterparts and were shown 6.6 percent fewer units. The difference in treatment was especially notable in the sales market, where testing found that AAPI testers were told about 15.5 percent fewer available properties for sale than their white counterparts and were shown 18.8 percent fewer properties. Differences in treatment were found across the country. Discrimination in housing markets is compounded by the myth that Asian Americans are not discriminated against. Because of this assumption—a cousin to the model minority stereotype—fair housing advocates’ enforcement and education efforts may not always include AAPI communities. It also influences how policymakers shape a range of housing-related policies…Federal leadership and broader public awareness of the discrimination faced by Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders can help support and spur action by advocates and policymakers at all levels to move us closer to the promise of the Fair Housing Act." Source: Urban Institute

Proponents say

•      "And that brings us back to the future of the Fair Housing Act. The FHA has for decades provided the most powerful legal tools available for dismantling residential segregation. It has done tremendously important work, but that work is not done. When it comes to addressing housing discrimination in its current forms, the disparate impact standard is an absolutely indispensable tool. It smokes out covert intentional discrimination. More profoundly, it allows courts to carefully scrutinize policies that perpetuate patterns of segregation to determine whether they can be justified. Removing this pillar of civil rights law would set back equal housing opportunity in dramatic ways. It would also set back the movement to reform bias-based policing at exactly the wrong moment." Source: ACLU


•      "As the Chair of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, and as a member of the Subcommittee on Housing, Community Development and Insurance, I am pleased that HUD’s Continuum of Care (CoC) Program promotes community-based approaches to the goal of ending homelessness with lifesaving grants. I am exceedingly honored that Secretary Fudge is here to announce how Houston can benefit from these grants. In addition to the CoC Program, Secretary Fudge is here to participate in a site visit for another program designed for senior citizens. The American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association (AHEPA)property Secretary Fudge and I, together with Congresswomen Jackson Lee and Fletcher, will visit today is one of six locations in Houston. It serves over 200 low-income seniors who are age 62 years or older. These senior residents are provided access to services from meals and utilities to healthcare and transportation. The essential support from HUD for AHEPA helps to provide our senior citizens with a high quality of life as they age…HUD’s Section 202 provides over $1.8 million annually for four of the six AHEPA properties in Houston. Without this critical support, many of our seniors might otherwise find themselves living in the streets of life, regrettably too often left behind by family and friends." Source: Rep. Al Green (Democrat, Texas, District 9)


•      "HUD touts that the grant money will help organizations develop and coordinate education and outreach programs to inform the public about its rights under the Fair Housing Act and provide fair housing training for eligible organizations. The funds allocated to enforcement could be the most helpful. More than $3 million will be allocated to eligible organizations to build their capacity to conduct fair housing enforcement-related activities or establish new organizations to engage in fair housing work, particularly in unserved and underserved communities. Over $9 million will be awarded to organizations to conduct testing, investigate violations, and obtain enforcement of the rights under the Fair Housing Act or equivalent state and local laws.." Source: Black Enterprise

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