NFHA President and CEO Lisa Rice Warns of Perils of Unchecked AI during World Summit AI Keynote in Doha 

Doha, Qatar – National Fair Housing Alliance President and CEO Lisa Rice delivered a keynote address today at the World Summit AI Conference in Doha, Qatar. Rice’s address, “Trust by Design: Building Impactful, Responsible AI Systems,” marks the first time a U.S. civil rights leader received an invitation to speak at a World Summit AI convening.  

“We use AI to transform people’s lives and strengthen communities. When designed responsibly, these systems don’t rely on protected labels or demographic segmentation, they focus on patterns that help us create fairer, more effective solutions,” said Rice.  

Rice’s keynote focused on the urgent need to embed civil rights principles in AI development and deployment. She outlined how data powering AI systems are often distorted by long-standing inequities, and how unexamined algorithms can scale discrimination rather than solve it. She noted AI is becoming ubiquitous, but its rapid adoption does not mean the technology is without error.   

Key points from Rice’s remarks included: 

• Data, the backbone of AI, is often tainted by structural bias. 
• Algorithms, while seen as neutral, can replicate or intensify discrimination. 
• Technology can systemize bias, making it easier to spread and harder to detect.

Rice illustrated these risks using the U.S. credit system, where 19 percent of Americans are credit invisible or unscorable. Of that group, Black, Latino, Native American, and some Asian communities are nearly twice as likely as White people to be credit invisible. People of Color are also twice as likely to be denied credit, even with similar financial profiles to White applicants.  

Credit invisibility is built into financial and legal structures, especially for people who rely on non-traditional credit markets like cash advances and pay-day loans, which offer fewer protections and exorbitant fees and interest rates. 

Rice also noted that global trust in AI remains low with only 46 percent of people worldwide trusting AI systems. 70 percent of people believe regulation and oversight are necessary.  

“We need to develop the policies, the guidance, the governance protocols, and the AI systems for the future to help the world understand you can build trustworthy AI,” she added.  

Rice also highlighted the work of NFHA’s Responsible AI Lab which advocates for explainability, accountability, data privacy and protections, and human oversight in automated systems. NFHA champions a clear, consistent regulatory framework that protects people while giving businesses the stability and clarity needed to innovate responsibly. 

For interviews, please e-mail NFHA Senior Advisor for Communications, Marketing, and Education Julian Glover at JGlover@NationalFairHousing.org 

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The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) is the country’s only national civil rights organization dedicated solely to eliminating all forms of housing and lending discrimination and ensuring equal opportunities for all people. As the trade association for over 170 fair housing and justice-centered organizations and individuals throughout the U.S. and its territories, NFHA works to dismantle longstanding barriers to equity and build diverse, inclusive, well-resourced communities.

The post NFHA President and CEO Lisa Rice Warns of Perils of Unchecked AI during World Summit AI Keynote in Doha  appeared first on NFHA.

National Fair Housing Alliance Forcefully Condemns the Trump Administration’s Unjust Rollback of Key Civil Rights Protection 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Fair Housing Alliance forcefully condemns the Trump Administration’s latest attack on a key civil rights protection that ensures equal treatment under the law. Today, Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ), without first proposing the change and seeking comment from the public, revised a decades-old regulation that bars recipients of federal funding from engaging in practices that have unintended, negative impacts on people based on race, color, or national origin.

The DOJ released the final rule undoing protections people in the U.S. have enjoyed since the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964. The new rule specifically attacks Title VI of the law—now stating that recipients of federal dollars can only be held accountable for acts of discrimination that can be proven to be intentional.  

DOJ plays a coordinating role in the federal government with respect to Title VI enforcement. Rolling back this key civil rights responsibility is a grave injustice to the institution’s mission.  

Nikitra Bailey, Executive Vice President, National Fair Housing Alliance, issued the following statement: 

“The country is less fair and just today—without core protections that Title VI has provided for decades. Robust Title VI enforcement ensures that everyone benefits from key government programs that too often bypass some in need, such as disaster relief. This provision also ensures that cities do not overburden predominantly Black, Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and Native neighborhoods with toxic waste. Without disparate impact, it will be immeasurably harder to address such unjust results and remove arbitrary and unnecessary barriers to fairness. We call on Congress to immediately restore Title VI’s full protections and increase its oversight of the Trump Administration’s attacks on fair housing opportunities during the nation’s fair and affordable housing crisis.” 

For interviews, please e-mail NFHA Senior Advisor for Communications, Marketing, and Education Julian Glover at JGlover@NationalFairHousing.org 

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The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) is the country’s only national civil rights organization dedicated solely to eliminating all forms of housing and lending discrimination and ensuring equal opportunities for all people. As the trade association for over 170 fair housing and justice-centered organizations and individuals throughout the U.S. and its territories, NFHA works to dismantle longstanding barriers to equity and build diverse, inclusive, well-resourced communities.

The post National Fair Housing Alliance Forcefully Condemns the Trump Administration’s Unjust Rollback of Key Civil Rights Protection  appeared first on NFHA.

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Chair Hill, Ranking Member Waters, and other distinguished members of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, thank you for the opportunity to testify during today’s hearing. I am Nikitra Bailey, Executive Vice President of the National Fair Housing Alliance® (NFHA). NFHA leads the fair housing movement by working to eliminate housing discrimination and ensure equitable housing opportunities for all people and communities. NFHA also represents over 200 community-based non-profit fair housing agencies throughout the nation.

Our nation is in the throes of a fair and affordable housing crisis impacting millions of people. The actions of the Trump Administration have caused chaos, fear, insecurity, dysfunction, and rising prices around the country. Instead of providing everyday people with practical solutions to the housing crisis, the administration is removing rungs on the ladders of opportunity for essential workers, including police, teachers, firefighters; and others who dedicate their lives to serving their communities. The Trump Administration’s haphazard executive actions are causing serious economic and personal injuries that will undermine our already fragile housing market, and, ultimately, our nation.

Housing is fundamental to the American Dream, and voters want elected leaders to quickly implement solutions to ensure they can fairly access opportunity and share in the nation’s prosperity. People are seeking solutions that will drive down the skyrocketing cost of housing and provide fair market rents, expand fair access to mortgage credit in underserved communities, reduce homeowners’ insurance costs, and produce the development of millions of desperately needed affordable housing units.

Rather, the Trump Administration’s actions are leaving people seeking housing free of discrimination unprotected, including disabled veterans, seniors, people with disabilities, families with children, survivors of domestic violence, and more.

Congress established fair housing as a national policy of the U.S. with the passage of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 after the horrific assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Yet, the Trump Administration is dismantling our nation’s fair housing and fair lending infrastructure and making it costlier for everyday people to afford the American Dream despite demands for affordability.

The administration has failed to live up to its pledge to make housing cheaper and increase access to homeownership. Prior to the start of the administration, homeownership was on an upward trajectory for all communities.

• The Black homeownership rate grew 14.29 percent;
• The Asian American and Pacific Islander homeownership rate climbed 8.67 percent;
• The Latino homeownership rate increased 4.72 percent; and
• The White homeownership rate rose 1.78 percent.
  

This momentum is being reversed. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rolled back critical fair housing rules, eviscerated the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, closed field offices, and fired whistleblowers. It is leaving renters everywhere vulnerable to discrimination at a time when renters already face soaring rents and have nowhere to go. The Federal Housing Finance Agency abandoned Special Purpose Credit Programs that provided $82 million in reduced costs to 57,282 borrowers of all races from 2022 to 2024 and helped lenders circumvent systemic barriers that limit fair credit access for People of Color. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a proposal to gut a 50-year-old fair lending rule that ensures women can get a loan without requiring their husband’s or another male relative’s signature.

These actions are injecting unnecessary risk, locking out the people that the health of the housing system depends on. Over the next ten years, all future net household growth will be from households of color. If they are locked out of the housing finance system, the system will fail.

The Fair Housing Act provides the blueprint to increasing our nation’s supply of affordable housing. It is key to reforming exclusionary zoning that locks out renters, low-income people, and people of color from certain neighborhoods. It can drive inclusionary practices that permit entry-level homeownership opportunities and missing middle housing, including condominiums in triplexes, quadplexes, and accessory dwelling units.

Fair housing laws improve our communities block by block. These vital protections also strengthen our economy and make the nation more prosperous.

Now is the time for Congress to increase its oversight of the administration’s actions so that more people in America do not end up homeless. Congress must also pass comprehensive legislation with supply-side and demand-side solutions like Ranking Member Waters’ Housing Crisis Response Act to ensure that the housing needs of people living in rural, urban, and suburban communities are met. Only an all-of-the above strategy can truly tackle the crisis.

Thank you, and I look forward to answering your questions.

The post Nikitra Bailey’s Testimony Before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services appeared first on NFHA.

Civil Rights Coalition Urges the Office of Science and Technology Policy to Reaffirm Critical Protections 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) and a coalition of 33 civil rights organizations are urging the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to reaffirm important civil rights protections as it shapes the nation’s approach to artificial intelligence.

In a comment letter responding to the administration’s Request for Information (RFI) on Removing Regulatory Barriers to AI Innovation, the coalition challenges the idea that core civil rights safeguards are “regulatory burdens.”  The RFI was issued pursuant to America’s AI Action Plan which seeks to establish American AI dominance by removing regulatory barriers, investing heavily in infrastructure, and engaging in international AI diplomacy. The letter makes clear: human oversight, explainability, and accountability are not obstacles to innovation. These principles are the foundation for safe and trustworthy AI.  

The letter also notes that the RFI’s deregulatory tone conflicts with the administration’s own AI guidance released by Office of Management and Budget (OMB) earlier this year. 

“The RFI characterizes core safeguards—such as human oversight, explainability, and accountability—as regulatory burdens,” said Michael Akinwumi, PhD, Chief AI Officer at NFHA and Head of the Responsible AI Lab. “Yet, these same principles are foundational to OMB’s own guidance for federal AI systems. Regulatory reform should therefore build on that foundation, particularly OMB Memo M-25-21, to reduce compliance ambiguity, align implementation across agencies, and strengthen public confidence in emerging technologies.” 

The letter urges the OSTP to center civil rights protections in national AI policy, noting that civil rights laws are intended to be adaptive by design. “Policymakers have repeatedly made it clear that technology and algorithms must comply with our nation’s robust civil rights laws.  These protections are the legal infrastructure that makes responsible AI possible. OSTP should reaffirm that innovation does not have to come at the cost of people’s rights, by embedding civil rights principles at the core of federal AI policy,” said Christoph Mugge-Durum, AI Governance Researcher at NFHA’s Responsible AI Lab. 

The letter requests that AI systems used in housing, lending, and adjacent sectors must operate with fairness, transparency, and accountability, principles that prevent algorithmic redlining and digital discrimination. By reinforcing the duty to monitor, test, and explain automated decisions, such measures prevent discrimination and promote innovation that expands, rather than restricts, access to opportunity. 

NFHA argues that a consistent, transparent regulatory framework not only protects people but also gives businesses the clarity needed to innovate responsibly. Embedding such principles from the outset ensures that the AI progress this administration seeks is both sustainable and trusted by the public. Conversely, neglecting these safeguards could introduce uncertainty, erode confidence, and slow the very innovation the reforms aim to promote. 

For interviews, please e-mail NFHA Senior Advisor for Communications, Marketing, and Education Julian Glover at JGlover@NationalFairHousing.org 

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The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) is the country’s only national civil rights organization dedicated solely to eliminating all forms of housing and lending discrimination and ensuring equal opportunities for all people. As the trade association for over 170 fair housing and justice-centered organizations and individuals throughout the U.S. and its territories, NFHA works to dismantle longstanding barriers to equity and build diverse, inclusive, well-resourced communities.

The post Civil Rights Coalition Urges the Office of Science and Technology Policy to Reaffirm Critical Protections  appeared first on NFHA.

NFHA Denounces Proposed CFPB Rule Change Eliminating Fair Access to Lending for Women, Underserved Communities 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) vehemently opposes a newly proposed rule from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) that would weaken hard-fought fair lending protections for women and limit affordable credit opportunities for underserved communities—namely communities of color and rural residents, especially in the South.

NFHA President and CEO Lisa Rice called the proposed rule change “unconscionable” and said it “must never come into effect.” The proposal would weaken existing protections as housing discrimination remains at near-record levels, as documented in NFHA’s recently-released 2025 Fair Housing Trends Report. Instead of responding to the desires of voters to create more affordability, the Trump administration is once again making it costlier for everyday people to afford and access the American Dream. 

The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking released by the CFPB would eviscerate longstanding fair lending and consumer protections in three dangerous ways: 

• The proposed rule would eliminate the ban that the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) has on lending practices that disproportionally harm people based on their immutable characteristics and identity, such as gender, race, color, national origin, age, marital status, religion, or because the applicant receives public assistance. If this change is enacted, this means lenders could freely use credit models that exclude hardworking people in these federally protected classes. This provision reverses the core principle of ECOA which was passed to ensure that women could fairly obtain credit in their own name without their husband or male relative co-signing a loan. 
• The proposed rule would give banks the green light to engage in redlining practices that deny Black, Latino, and other disadvantaged communities fair access to safe and non-predatory mortgages. For example, this rule change would allow banks to only do business in neighborhoods that are predominantly White—avoiding placing bank branches in underserved communities where access to fair credit is impossible to come by.  The people living in these neighborhoods will only be left with the ability to access credit from risky, high-cost lenders peddling loans with exorbitant interest rates and that siphon off hard-earned wealth.
• The proposed rule would stop lenders from establishing Special Purpose Credit Programs (SPCP). These programs are critical to making the American Dream of homeownership accessible to all people. This includes first-generation rural, urban, and suburban residents unable to rely on family members for downpayment assistance because previous generations were wrongfully excluded from federal homeownership programs. In addition to down payment assistance, Special Purpose Credit Programs have expanded access to homeownership by providing interest rate buy-downs and programs tailored to people living in Southern U.S. states, who typically have lower credit profiles than people in the rest of the nation. SPCPs also help financial institutions responsibly lend to more creditworthy borrowers, increasing their ability to expand business opportunities.

The weakening of ECOA, paired with recent actions by the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency have undermined the safety of the housing finance system. The FHFA Director recently prohibited the Government Sponsored Enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from supporting SPCPs. These programs provided $82 million in reduced costs to 57,282 borrowers of all races from 2022 to 2024. SPCPs also help lenders circumvent systemic barriers that limit credit access for People of Color. An estimated 70 percent of future homebuyers will be Latino and Black. Without access to fair and affordable mortgages, the system will fail.  

“The proposed rule changes are a death knell for lenders. Disparate impact is a business-growth engine and any company that wants to remain viable and competitive will continue to use this critical tool. Disparate impact helps businesses grow and expand their products and services by revealing and removing unnecessary barriers that arbitrarily limit customer reach, suppress innovation, and constrain business opportunities,” said Rice. “These actions ignore mounds of evidence revealing ongoing lending bias, are an assault on decades of settled fair lending law and would promote discrimination in our credit markets. They are a continuation of this administration’s attack on protections against redlining. For these reasons and more, this rule must never be promulgated.”  

The CFPB’s proposed rule change is the Trump administration’s latest effort to dismantle the nation’s capacity to ensure and enforce fair housing as the country deals with a fair and affordable housing crisis.  

The administration has: 

• Fired hundreds of HUD employees—many in the critical Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity during the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history;
• Implemented measures to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the only federal agency with an explicit charge from Congress to protect consumers against abuse and discrimination in financial markets;
• Pledged to no longer investigate complaints of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity;
• Blocked congressionally appropriated funds for community-based fair housing organizations fighting against discrimination and ensuring fair access to housing;
• Sought to reverse settled and resolved redlining and discrimination cases to benefit companies and entities charged with violating civil rights laws;
• Implemented measures restricting the ability of HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity to fulfill its duties to enforce the Violence Against Women Act;
• Shuttered an inter-agency task force implementing measures to tackle appraisal bias; and
• Announced HUD will no longer use disparate impact to combat illegal housing discrimination, even after the Supreme Court sanctioned the use of this important tool.

“By eliminating the longstanding ‘effects test’ under the ECOA, this rule would also strip away one of the most powerful tools for uncovering and remedying systemic bias in lending,” said Rice. “Disparate impact has been recognized and upheld for more than forty years as essential to enforcing equal lending opportunities and ensuring everyone has access to the credit they deserve. This reckless proposal would embolden discriminatory practices, undermine civil rights enforcement, and roll back generations of progress towards economic justice while threatening the health of the economy.” 

For interviews, please e-mail NFHA Senior Advisor for Communications, Marketing, and Education Julian Glover at JGlover@NationalFairHousing.org 

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The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) is the country’s only national civil rights organization dedicated solely to eliminating all forms of housing and lending discrimination and ensuring equal opportunities for all people. As the trade association for over 170 fair housing and justice-centered organizations and individuals throughout the U.S. and its territories, NFHA works to dismantle longstanding barriers to equity and build diverse, inclusive, well-resourced communities.

The post NFHA Denounces Proposed CFPB Rule Change Eliminating Fair Access to Lending for Women, Underserved Communities  appeared first on NFHA.

New Fair Housing Trends Report Finds Pervasive Discrimination as Federal Government Rolls Back Civil Rights

WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 5, 2025) – Today, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) released its 2025 Fair Housing Trends Report revealing that 32,321 housing discrimination complaints were filed nationwide in 2024. The numbers signal one of the highest figures in more than two decades, amid a steep decline in the nation’s ability to enforce civil rights protections as federal funding cuts take hold during the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history.  

• Disability related discrimination accounted for the largest share of complaints at 54.6%, followed by race, national origin, sex, familial status, and religion.  
• Complaints based on national origin rose 8.45% from the previous year, marking the highest number since 2018.  
• Retaliation complaints more than doubled from the previous year to the highest recorded level.

And even as discrimination rises, the federal government is pulling back from enforcement. Recent mass firings at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) during the government shutdown have gutted the department’s ability to investigate violations. FHEO now has a third of the staff it had on January 20, 2025, when President Trump was sworn into office.

“This report sends a very clear message: America is in the midst of a fair and affordable housing crisis,” said Lisa Rice, President & CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance. “On top of the crisis, people are being denied housing opportunities because of immutable characteristics like race, gender, and disability status. And what makes this moment especially alarming is that our civil rights infrastructure itself is under attack across the country.” 

Deep funding cuts to fair housing programs have forced several community-based local fair housing agencies to close their doors—the very frontline groups that investigated nearly 75% of all housing discrimination complaints in 2024. These actions have left disabled veterans seeking to get off the streets; seniors requiring modifications to their homes; families with children seeking a home; survivors of domestic violence fleeing sexual and physical abuse; Black and Latino potential homebuyers seeking a mortgage; and more unprotected. 

NFHA is calling on Congress to hold an immediate oversight hearing and ensure HUD’s fair housing programs are fully funded.  

“America’s fair housing infrastructure is being dismantled and defunded in the very moment it’s needed most,” said Nikitra Bailey, NFHA Executive Vice President. “Congress must ensure HUD’s fair housing programs are fully funded and exercise its oversight authority over HUD to ensure decades of civil rights progress is not reversed through unlawful executive action. Access to fair housing is a basic human right—it’s the law.” 

The report also examines how artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic housing tools are creating new threats of digital redlining, steering, and bias in tenant screening and pricing. NFHA calls for mandatory AI fairness audits and federal transparency standards to ensure these technologies do not deepen existing inequities.  

“Even though we are facing daunting threats, even though we are facing an unprecedented level of attacks on fair housing—we are still advancing the law. We are still marching forward because justice must prevail,” said Rice.  

The full 2025 Fair Housing Trends Report including data analysis, policy recommendations, and member case studies is available now by clicking this link.  

For interviews and data specific to your state or region, please e-mail NFHA Senior Advisor for Communications, Marketing, and Education Julian Glover at JGlover@NationalFairHousing.org 

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The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) is the country’s only national civil rights organization dedicated solely to eliminating all forms of housing and lending discrimination and ensuring equal opportunities for all people. As the trade association for over 170 fair housing and justice-centered organizations and individuals throughout the U.S. and its territories, NFHA works to dismantle longstanding barriers to equity and build diverse, inclusive, well-resourced communities.

The post New Fair Housing Trends Report Finds Pervasive Discrimination as Federal Government Rolls Back Civil Rights appeared first on NFHA.

NFHA Denounces Trump Administration’s Firing of Hundreds of HUD Employees During Government Shutdown 

NFHA applauds U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston’s decision to temporarily block the Trump administration from conducting mass layoffs during the government shutdown. NFHA strongly condemns the Administration’s decision to issue reduction-in-force (RIF) notices to more than 400 employees on Friday, according to press reports and court documents. These firings include more than 100 employees from HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, the hardworking civil servants who investigate acts of housing discrimination nationwide. The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) forcefully condemns these unlawful actions taken in the middle of a government shutdown.  

 “This Administration is completely destroying the federal government’s capacity to address housing discrimination,” said NFHA President and CEO Lisa Rice. “In his confirmation hearing, HUD Secretary Scott Turner promised to uphold the Fair Housing Act, but every action taken under his leadership says otherwise.”  

Earlier this year, the Trump Administration reduced HUD’s Fair Housing enforcement staff by half. Meanwhile, complaints of housing discrimination are at record highs, according to the 2024 Fair Housing Trends report produced by NFHA. The RIFs represent a dangerous continuation of the administration’s systemic dismantling of Fair Housing in America. 

Trump Administration’s Impact on Fair Housing to Date: 

• With the termination of more than 100 fair housing employees in addition to cuts previously made, the Trump Administration is severely decreasing HUD’s capacity to ensure everyday Americans remain safely housed and are not unfairly denied housing—the very rights that the Fair Housing Act guarantees.  

• HUD will no longer investigate and resolve important fair housing complaints. These complaints include alleged acts of redlining, which deprive entire communities of credit because of their race or ethnicity, according to a recent department announcement.  

• HUD will no longer investigate complaints of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.  

• HUD will no longer use “disparate impact”—a common sense legal tool sanctioned by the U.S. Supreme Court that prevents unnecessary discriminatory outcomes.  

• The Administration attempted to block congressionally appropriated funds for community-based Fair Housing organizations. These organizations handle thousands of discrimination complaints on behalf of disabled veterans, seniors, survivors of domestic violence, people of color, families with children, and more. 
  

“We will continue to hold the Administration accountable for providing the protections the Fair Housing Act guarantees, and that the nation desperately needs during the current fair and affordable housing crisis. We also urge Congress to conduct oversight over these unlawful actions,” said Rice. 

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The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) is the country’s only national civil rights organization dedicated solely to eliminating all forms of housing and lending discrimination and ensuring equal opportunities for all people. As the trade association for over 170 fair housing and justice-centered organizations and individuals throughout the U.S. and its territories, NFHA works to dismantle longstanding barriers to equity and build diverse, inclusive, well-resourced communities.

The post NFHA Denounces Trump Administration’s Firing of Hundreds of HUD Employees During Government Shutdown  appeared first on NFHA.

The Senate’s Confirmation of Craig Trainor to Lead HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity is Concerning 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Last night, the Senate voted to confirm a package of 107 nominees that included Craig Trainor to be Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Trainor has served as Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education, where he has overseen the illegal weaponization of the Department’s civil rights authorities for purposes contrary to the advancement of civil rights, such as attacking schools for supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion.

In response, NFHA Executive Vice President Nikitra Bailey issued the following statement:

“It is deeply concerning that the Senate confirmed Craig Trainor to be the administration’s top fair housing official without even holding an individualized vote, much less scrutinizing his troubling record. This administration has already attacked fair housing enforcement in many ways, including eliminating much of the fair housing staff at FHEO and elsewhere in the government; trying to defund nonprofit, local fair housing organizations that make fair housing enforcement real for people seeking housing free of discrimination all over the country; announcing that it will not fully enforce the Fair Housing Act and will ignore, for example, claims that banks are redlining neighborhoods; threatening to withhold federal funds from states and localities that offer greater fair housing protections than provided in federal law, such as for veterans and seniors; and firing whistleblowers who sought to expose their unlawful actions. HUD Sec. Turner committed to ‘upholding the fair housing laws’ during his confirmation hearing, but so far HUD has not kept that promise. We urge Congress to hold Assistant Sec. Trainor and Sec. Turner accountable for providing the protections that the Fair Housing Act guarantees, and people desperately need in our current fair and affordable housing crisis.” 

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The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) is the country’s only national civil rights organization dedicated solely to eliminating all forms of housing and lending discrimination and ensuring equal opportunities for all people. As the trade association for over 170 fair housing and justice-centered organizations and individuals throughout the U.S. and its territories, NFHA works to dismantle longstanding barriers to equity and build diverse, inclusive, well-resourced communities.

The post The Senate’s Confirmation of Craig Trainor to Lead HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity is Concerning  appeared first on NFHA.

On Tuesday, September 30, 2025, Congress failed to pass and send to the president a new spending bill to avert a shutdown of the federal government. Without the passage of a Continuing Resolution, federal funding stopped at midnight, ceasing nonessential federal operations and resulting in furloughs of thousands of federal workers. The funding gap disrupts critical services provided to the people in America by the federal government, including the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) ability to fulfill its important responsibility of enforcing the Fair Housing Act, which the federal government does not permit to continue during a shutdown. It also hampers HUD’s ability to advance responsible AI in housing infrastructure and guard against algorithmic discrimination in housing and lending systems, and risks potential housing displacements tied to the rapid construction of data centers.  

In response, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) issued the following statement:

“Halting the services of HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) during the nation’s fair and affordable housing crisis places the lives of millions of people in jeopardy, as fair housing is vital to people’s ability to live and thrive. Disabled veterans seeking to get off the streets and into permanent housing; seniors who need a safe place to live; families with children denied housing; survivors of domestic violence and/or sexual assault fleeing abuse; people with disabilities who are denied accessible housing; Black and Latino consumers trying to secure a mortgage on fair terms; women experiencing sexual harassment by their landlords; and others seeking housing free of discrimination will all be devastated by our federal government’s inability to enforce fair housing rights. 

“This significant disturbance comes as HUD has already unlawfully eviscerated our nation’s fair housing infrastructure. And recent whistleblower complaints provide evidence of the ways that FHEO is disregarding its fair housing enforcement obligations. Further, the Trump administration has issued executive orders attacking civil rights, closed agencies, fired federal staff, eliminated watchdogs, stripped away federal oversight, rescinded anti-discrimination policies, eliminated funding, withdrawn the U.S. from international human rights bodies, and threatened civil and criminal actions against civil and human rights groups and public officials sowing chaos, fear, insecurity, and dysfunction around the country. 

“Stopping HUD’s vital services while people throughout the nation are in dire need and struggling with rising housing costs, increased complaints of housing discrimination, a lack of affordable housing supply, and technology’s growing role in determining housing decisions will worsen the fair and affordable housing crisis. And the shutdown impairs the ability of nonprofit, local fair housing organizations to protect people from housing discrimination—compounding the damage HUD has already done by belatedly making FY’24 grants under the Fair Housing Initiatives Program at the last possible minute.  

“The administration’s AI Action Plan has ignited a push to build data centers at an unprecedented pace. Yet the very staff who protect communities from environmental hazards tied to this surge are being furloughed or, if the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) follows through with its threat, permanently laid off. This contradiction undermines both the integrity of the AI agenda and the health and safety of the neighborhoods where these facilities are being sited. NFHA warns that the risks are not hypothetical. During the 2018–2019 shutdown, the Environmental Protection Agency operated with only about six percent of its staff, focusing solely on emergencies while oversight, inspections, and community protections were suspended. A repeat of that reality would leave millions of people in American exposed to unchecked environmental harms and deprive fair housing groups of critical government partners. 

“NFHA urges Congress and the Trump administration to negotiate in good faith in the best interest of the people of America on a stopgap measure and ensure our nation’s fair housing laws are fully enforced. It is imperative that our government serves all people at this moment as they are relying on HUD’s crucial services and support for one of life’s most basic necessities—housing. People are worried sick about receiving fair housing opportunities to stay alive and thrive during these challenging times. 

“Finally, thwarting the federal government from properly functioning is a threat to our nation’s democracy. Any attempt to use the shutdown to trigger a further major reduction of HUD FHEO staff must be avoided at all costs. FHEO has operated for years with insufficient staff, and this administration already has decimated it. Further attempts to hollow out the division during a shutdown would be an abdication of HUD’s responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act while inflicting needless pain on the people of America.” 

The post The Federal Government Shutdown Exacerbates Harm of HUD’s Dismantling of its Fair Housing Infrastructure appeared first on NFHA.

Washington, D.C.— The following civil and human rights organizations registered their dismay at facts revealed in a whistleblower complaint filed by five employees working at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The groups also pledged their support for the brave employees who have filed this alarming complaint.  

We commend these brave and dedicated public servants for calling attention to HUD’s unlawful refusal to fully enforce the Fair Housing Act and other critical civil rights laws. The New York Times article about their whistleblower complaint states the release of internal documents supports their complaint about HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity explicitly impairing its fair housing responsibilities by:  

1. Setting a policy of refusing to act on any fair housing complaints that the Trump Administration does not favor.  
2. Stripping authority to act on statutorily required fair housing responsibilities from career HUD officials.   
3. Undermining fair housing enforcement within the agency.

In his confirmation hearing, HUD Secretary Scott Turner promised he would “commit to upholding the fair housing laws” during an exchange where he was asked whether he would commit to the vigorous enforcement of the nation’s fair housing laws. Under his direction, HUD has not lived up to the promise. Instead, HUD has refused to act on complaints of discrimination; rolled back key fair housing protections; decimated the ranks of staff devoted to fair housing investigation and enforcement; and tried to eliminate funding for organizations dedicated to assisting victims of housing discrimination. Now, having drastically degraded our nation’s fair housing enforcement infrastructure, HUD has the audacity to say it must “deprioritize” disfavored complaints because it lacks the resources for full enforcement. This “deprioritization” conflicts with the federal Fair Housing Act for which Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and so many others fought.  

These illegal acts leave many vulnerable people who rely on HUD’s fair housing resources without protection. People HUD has abandoned include: veterans with disabilities seeking to get off the streets and into permanent housing; seniors who need a safe place to live; survivors of domestic violence and/or sexual assault fleeing abuse with their children; people with disabilities who are denied accessible housing; Black and Latino consumers trying to secure a home loan on fair terms; women experiencing sexual harassment by their landlords; and others seeking housing free of discrimination during the escalating fair and affordable housing crisis. Making affordable housing and homeownership opportunities available to all should be a top priority for Sec. Turner, but instead, HUD is affirmatively dismantling its capacity to carry out its statutory responsibility to enforce the Fair Housing Act and other fundamental civil rights laws.    

We urge Congress and the HUD Inspector General to vigorously investigate this complaint and to provide the oversight that is so desperately needed to ensure Congress’s intentions are fulfilled and the nation’s fair housing laws are fully enforced. 

National Organizations 

National Fair Housing Alliance

AFT: Education, Healthcare, Public Services 

American Civil Liberties Union 

Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund 

Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law 

Center for Law and Social Policy 

Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues 

Coalition on Human Needs 

Drug Policy Alliance 

Empowering Pacific Islander Communities (EPIC) 

Equal Justice Society 

Equal Rights Advocates 

Feminist Majority Foundation 

Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) 

Jewish Council for Public Affairs 

Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law 

Latino Justice PRLDEF 

Legal Defense Fund 

Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights 

Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law 

NAACP 

National Alliance to End Sexual Violence 

National Black Justice Collective (NBJC) 

National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) 

National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD) 

National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA) 

National Homelessness Law Center 

National Housing Law Project 

National Low Income Housing Coalition  

National Partnership for Women & Families 

National Urban League 

National Women’s Law Center 

People For the American Way 

Popular Democracy in Action 

Poverty & Race Research Action Council 

RESULTS 

SAGE 

Southern Poverty Law Center 

UnidosUS 

State/Local Organizations 

Arizona 

Southwest Fair Housing Council 

The Arizona Fair Housing Center 

California 

CSA San Diego County  

Equality California 

Fair Housing Council of Orange County 

Fair Housing Council of Riverside County, Inc. 

Mental Health Advocacy Services 

Connecticut 

Connecticut Fair Housing Center 

District of Columbia 

Equal Rights Center 

Florida 

Fair Housing Center of the Greater Palm Beaches  

Housing Opportunities Project for Excellence, Inc. (HOPE, Inc.) 

Georgia 

Metro Fair Housing Services, Inc. 

Savannah-Chatham County Fair Housing Council, Inc.  

Idaho 

Intermountain Fair Housing Council, Inc. 

Illinois 

Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance 

Housing Choice Partners 

HOPE Fair Housing Center 

Illinois Accountability Initiative 

Open Communities 

South Suburban Housing Center 

Indiana 

Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana 

Louisiana 

Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center 

Michigan 

Fair Housing Center of Southeast & Mid-Michigan 

Fair Housing Center of West Michigan 

Missouri 

St. Louis Fair Housing Equity Center  

New Jersey 

New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund 

New York 

CNY Fair Housing 

Fair Housing Justice Center 

Housing Opportunities Made Equal, Inc. 

Westchester Residential Opportunities, Inc 

Nevada 

Silver State Fair Housing Council 

North Dakota 

High Plains Fair Housing Center, Inc. 

Ohio 

Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research 

Fair Housing Contact Service 

Fair Housing Resource Center 

Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Greater Cincinnati  

Miami Valley Fair Housing Center, Inc. 

The Fair Housing Center  

Tennessee 

Fair Housing Council of Metropolitan Memphis  

Tennessee Fair Housing Council  

Texas 

Greater Houston Fair Housing Center Inc. 

North Texas Fair Housing Center 

Vermont 

Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity 

Virginia 

HOME of Virginia  

Washington 

Fair Housing Center of Washington 

Northwest Fair Housing Alliance 

Wisconsin 

Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council 

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The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) is the country’s only national civil rights organization dedicated solely to eliminating all forms of housing and lending discrimination and ensuring equal opportunities for all people. As the trade association for over 170 fair housing and justice-centered organizations and individuals throughout the U.S. and its territories, NFHA works to dismantle longstanding barriers to equity and build diverse, inclusive, well-resourced communities. 

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