{"id":11294,"date":"2025-07-25T16:55:42","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T20:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalfairhousing.org\/?p=11294"},"modified":"2025-07-25T16:55:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T20:55:42","slug":"holding-the-department-of-justice-accountable-to-remedy-alleged-redlining-in-philadelphia-pa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalfairhousing.org\/holding-the-department-of-justice-accountable-to-remedy-alleged-redlining-in-philadelphia-pa\/","title":{"rendered":"Holding the Department of Justice accountable to remedy alleged redlining in Philadelphia, PA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

Holding the Department of Justice accountable to remedy alleged redlining in Philadelphia, PA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

July 24, 2025 \u2013 Today, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District rejected the Trump Administration\u2019s attempt to terminate early a consent order that holds ESSA Bank & Trust accountable for alleged discriminatory redlining of majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in and around Philadelphia. The decision comes as DOJ moves to dismiss fair lending and other anti-discrimination settlements across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a victory for the people of West Philadelphia, who are entitled to a lending market free from discrimination,\u201d said Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg, Senior Attorney at the Public Interest Law Center. \u201cAnd it is a victory for the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Justice, after an extensive investigation, had entered into a five-year consent order with ESSA bank, but under the Trump Administration, it abruptly asked the court in June to terminate the order after just two years. The Housing Equality Center of Pennsylvania, POWER Interfaith, and the National Fair Housing Alliance<\/strong>, represented by the Public Interest Law Center and Stapleton Segal Cochran LLC, filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to reject the motion. The court heard oral arguments from both parties and amici on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a victory for the West and Southwest Philadelphia communities who fought hard for these protections 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 this ruling signals that lending discrimination will not be tolerated in our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its original 2023 complaint, the DOJ accused ESSA Bank & Trust of willfully discriminating against borrowers in majority-Black and Hispanic neighborhoods. 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

Under the Consent Order, ESSA agreed to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Although the DOJ and ESSA asserted that ESSA\u2019s actions in two years substantially satisfied the consent order\u2019s five-year requirements as well as the consent order\u2019s purposes, they failed to prove so to the court. The court found that it was in the public interest for ESSA to comply with the consent decree for the full five years, observing: \u201cEnsuring equal access to credit is not only a legal mandate\u2014it strengthens communities, serves the public, and advances economic justice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are deeply grateful that the Court stood firmly in support of civil rights principles and established law by rejecting the Trump Administration\u2019s attempt to prematurely terminate this vital consent order,\u201d said Lisa Rice, President and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance.<\/strong> \u201cThis decision sends a powerful message that commitments to combat housing discrimination cannot be abandoned on a political whim. We urge all who believe in equal justice to stand up against these systematic efforts to dismantle civil rights. The fight for fair housing requires vigilance at every turn, and we must not allow any administration to roll back decades of progress.\u201d<\/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 have betrayed 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 argued that the DOJ failed to meet the legal standard required to terminate a consent order. Last 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

\u201cThis ruling reaffirms that civil rights settlements are binding commitments to communities that have been deprived of justice for too long,\u201d said Eli Segal of Stapleton Segal Cochran LLC. \u201cThe court\u2019s decision makes clear that court orders demand respect.\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: Holding the Department of Justice accountable to remedy alleged redlining in Philadelphia, PA July 24, 2025 \u2013 Today, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District rejected the Trump Administration\u2019s attempt to terminate early a consent order that holds ESSA Bank & Trust accountable for alleged discriminatory redlining of majority-Black and Hispanic […]<\/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-11294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-releases"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHolding the Department of Justice accountable to remedy alleged redlining in Philadelphia, PA - NFHA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Holding the Department of Justice accountable to remedy alleged redlining in Philadelphia, PA July 24, 2025 \u2013 Today, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District rejected the Trump Administration\u2019s attempt to terminate early a consent order that holds ESSA Bank & Trust accountable for alleged discriminatory redlining of majority-Black and Hispanic […]\" \/>\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\/holding-the-department-of-justice-accountable-to-remedy-alleged-redlining-in-philadelphia-pa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Holding the Department of Justice accountable to remedy alleged redlining in Philadelphia, PA - 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