By Charlene Crowell

Recent whistleblower complaints of systemic dismantling of fair housing and civil rights enforcement at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have led ranking minority members of both chambers of Congress to jointly call for hearings on HUD Fair Housing.

On September 30, a letter co-signed by Rep. Maxine Waters who serves on the House Financial Services Committee, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren who serves on her chamber’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, together charge that HUD is on “an unalterable course” towards violating long-standing fair housing and related enforcement.

The two lawmakers also identified specific HUD leadership actions that substantiate their requests:

• Advised staff that fair housing work was “not a priority” but an “optics problem”; and encouraged reassignment within the agency as fair housing staff was cut by 70 percent.
• Implemented a gag order that prevented its Office of Fair Housing (OFH) from communicating with external parties both within and outside of HUD “without express approval from political leadership.” This single directive resulted in closing over 100 housing discrimination cases.
• Reassigned 75 percent of the OFH staff assigned to its Violence Against Women’s Act, leaving the office unable to serve or support survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, and sexual assault.

“The enforcement of fair housing and civil rights laws is not an ‘optics problem.’ Alleged efforts by HUD...

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