Disparate impact: The Trump administration is apparently aiming for a fair housing deregulatory trifecta – first the suspension of the Small Area FMR rule (struck down by the federal court), then the suspension of the AFFH rule (currently in litigation), and now a “reconsideration” of HUD’s Disparate Impact rule, in a new Federal Register notice purporting to seek input on a series of unnecessary questions that HUD already resolved in issuing the final rule in 2013. We are working with a coalition of civil rights groups to fashion a response.
In the new Poverty & Race: Our slightly delayed first quarter issue features selections from the terrific “Kerner at 50” conference at UC-Berkeley this past February, with essays by Sherilynn Ifill, Shaun Donovan, Fred Harris, Sandra Susan Smith, Robert Sampson, and more!
Registration now open for the National Housing Mobility Conference, October 16-17 in Washington DC: Co-sponsored by PRRAC, Mobility Works, and the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA). Register here (and p.s. if you are coming from out of town and need a hotel, please use our hotel block so we aren’t left with unused rooms)
Other news and resources
Source of income discrimination in the news: Congratulations to NYC (and former Legal Aid director Steve Banks) for using the power of the city to prosecute landlords who discriminate! “New York City Sues Landlords Who Refuse Government Vouchers” (NY Times 6-21-18). And congratulations to our friends in Milwaukee on the just-passed source of income discrimination ordinance in Milwaukee County!
New fair housing resource: New York’s Fair Housing Justice Center has released an excellent (and user-friendly) “Fair Housing Toolkit” as part of their “Building the Beloved Community” Interfaith initiative. The toolkit includes an overview of the history of housing discrimination and segregation, a section on fair housing rights, a list of educational resources and a set of advocacy tools and a list of specific ways individuals and organizations can promote fair housing.
