{"id":11184,"date":"2025-06-12T10:16:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T14:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalfairhousing.org\/?p=11184"},"modified":"2025-06-18T12:49:01","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T16:49:01","slug":"philadelphia-civil-rights-groups-push-back-on-department-of-justice-attempt-to-terminate-redlining-case-in-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalfairhousing.org\/philadelphia-civil-rights-groups-push-back-on-department-of-justice-attempt-to-terminate-redlining-case-in-philadelphia\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia Civil Rights Groups Push Back on Department of Justice Attempt to Terminate Redlining Case in Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philadelphia Civil Rights Groups Push Back on Department of Justice Attempt to Terminate Redlining Case in Philadelphia<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

PHILADELPHIA \u2013 In response to a troubling nationwide effort to weaken fair housing enforcement, civil rights groups are taking action to attempt to block the U.S. Department of Justice\u2019s (DOJ) premature termination of a federal consent order that holds ESSA Bank & Trust accountable for alleged discriminatory redlining in majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in and around Philadelphia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Housing Equality Center of Pennsylvania, POWER Interfaith, and the National Fair Housing Alliance\u00ae, represented by the Public Interest Law Center and Stapleton Segal Cochran LLC, filed a proposed amicus brief Monday urging the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to reject the DOJ\u2019s unopposed motion to end the Consent Order\u2014just two years into its five-year term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DOJ\u2019s motion comes as DOJ is moving to dismiss fair lending and other anti-discrimination settlements across the country, including this one in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis effort would strip West and Southwest Philadelphia communities of the hard-won protections they were promised just two years ago,\u201d said Rachel Wentworth, Executive Director of the Housing Equality Center of Pennsylvania. \u201cFor decades banks of all kinds have used redlining to deny neighborhoods of color access to wealth and opportunity, and ending this consent order sends a devastating message to these communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its original 2023 complaint, the DOJ accused ESSA Bank & Trust of avoiding investment in majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, including by excluding Philadelphia from its Community Home Buyer Program, and through advertising and outreach which sought loan applications from the Main Line while largely excluding Philadelphia. According to the DOJ, ESSA had branches within miles of the city but failed to adequately serve the residents of Philadelphia\u2014offering no local loan officers, no targeted outreach, and excluding city residents from its Community Home Buyer Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is troubling that the Trump Administration continues to pull from the same \u201cDiscriminate and Weaken\u201d playbook that it is using to unleash an era of anti-civil rights and anti-consumer policies,\u201d said Lisa Rice, President and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance.<\/strong> \u201cBy reversing this consent decree and others, this administration is empowering bad actors and leaving millions of our nation\u2019s most vulnerable unprotected and exposed. Once again, the administration\u2019s actions will only worsen the fair and affordable housing crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the Consent Order, ESSA agreed to:
\u2022 Assign loan officers to solicit mortgage applications from Philadelphia neighborhoods it previously ignored;
\u2022 Include Philadelphia residents in its program designed for low to moderate income homebuyers;
\u2022 Partner with local groups to provide financial education, housing counseling, and foreclosure prevention services;
\u2022 Invest $2.92 million in a loan subsidy fund for homebuyers in formerly redlined communities;
\u2022 And spend at least $375,000 on advertising, outreach, and consumer education targeted to historically excluded neighborhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese commitments were designed to bring fairness to the housing market and repair longstanding harm,\u201d said Reverend Gregory Edwards, Executive Director of POWER Interfaith. \u201cPulling out halfway through would betray the residents of Philadelphia who were promised access and opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Represented by the Public Interest Law Center and Stapleton Segal Cochran LLC, the civil rights organizations argue in their brief that the DOJ has failed to meet the legal standard required to terminate a consent order. They note that the United States\u2019 motion includes little explanation, no legal precedent, and no argument about the public interest\u2014an essential requirement for ending a Consent Order like this one. Earlier this month, the Public Interest Law Center represented New Jersey Citizen Action Education Fund, Housing Equality Center of Pennsylvania, and the National Fair Housing Alliance, in filing a similar proposed amicus brief to assist the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in a nearly identical attempt by the DOJ to terminate a consent order in Newark, NJ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cESSA hasn\u2019t even completed three of its five years of court-ordered obligations,\u201d said Eli Segal of Stapleton Segal Cochran LLC. \u201cThe rule of law demands more here than vague assurances of \u2018substantial compliance.\u2019 It demands court-ordered action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t just about one bank,\u201d added Olivia Mania, staff attorney at the Public Interest Law Center. \u201cIt\u2019s about whether the federal government will honor its role in dismantling structural racism in the housing market\u2014or walk away when the cameras are off. The court should uphold the Consent Order and ensure real, lasting change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

###<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) is the country\u2019s 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 200 fair housing and justice-centered organizations throughout the U.S. and its territories, NFHA works to dismantle longstanding barriers to equity and build diverse, inclusive, well-resourced communities.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Philadelphia Civil Rights Groups Push Back on Department of Justice Attempt to Terminate Redlining Case in Philadelphia PHILADELPHIA \u2013 In response to a troubling nationwide effort to weaken fair housing enforcement, civil rights groups are taking action to attempt to block the U.S. Department of Justice\u2019s (DOJ) premature termination of a federal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":433,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-releases"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPhiladelphia Civil Rights Groups Push Back on Department of Justice Attempt to Terminate Redlining Case in Philadelphia - NFHA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Philadelphia Civil Rights Groups Push Back on Department of Justice Attempt to Terminate Redlining Case in Philadelphia PHILADELPHIA \u2013 In response to a troubling nationwide effort to weaken fair housing enforcement, civil rights groups are taking action to attempt to block the U.S. Department of Justice\u2019s (DOJ) premature termination of a federal […]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalfairhousing.org\/philadelphia-civil-rights-groups-push-back-on-department-of-justice-attempt-to-terminate-redlining-case-in-philadelphia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Philadelphia Civil Rights Groups Push Back on Department of Justice Attempt to Terminate Redlining Case in Philadelphia - 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