Join us for the 10th National Conference on Housing Mobility: PRRAC and our partners at Mobility Works will be hosting the 10th National Conference on Housing Mobility on October 17, 2025 in Chicago. Featuring experts in research, policy, and practice, this event will update attendees on key developments and foster discussions to drive the field forward. This is the final event in a three-day series. Those who are interested can register for the event here, and those who are interested in all three days can register here.
Protecting HUD’s affirmative marketing requirements redux: The May 1, 2025 PRRAC Update described the threat to civil rights and equitable access to affordable housing posed by a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that would rescind the Department’s affirmative marketing regulations for subsidized housing. Later that day, the proposed rule cleared review at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), enabling HUD to send the proposed rule to the House Financial Services Committee and Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs for a two-week period prior to its publication for comment in the Federal Register. OMB’s review was compressed into just more than three weeks, a far shorter time than is typical for a rulemaking of this significance. Additionally, PRRAC had already scheduled a meeting with OMB for May 5, 2025 to discuss the proposed rule and why the repeal of HUD’s affirmative marketing regulations would be harmful for civil rights and could lead to the resegregation of federally-assisted properties that are located in low-poverty neighborhoods. OMB does not frequently approve proposed rules for publication when scheduled meetings have yet to occur. Going forward, PRRAC will prepare its own comments on the proposed rule and attempt to mobilize the broader civil rights, housing justice, and affordable housing fields in opposition to this attack. The public comment deadline will depend upon the exact date of the proposed rule’s forthcoming publication.
Pivoting to state and local efforts to affirmatively further fair housing: On May 9, 2025, PRRAC and PolicyLink published a policy brief entitled “Affirming Belonging” that outlines the steps that states and localities can take to affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH) in response to the federal government’s abandonment of its role in implementing and enforcing the Fair Housing Act. Under the AFFH obligation, federal agencies that administer housing and community development funds and their grantees must take proactive steps to identify and overcome fair housing issues like segregation, disparities in access to opportunity, and disproportionate housing needs by race and other protected characteristics. Since 2018, a handful of states and at least one municipality have passed laws that attempt to make the promise of AFFH real on the ground. PRRAC is committed to working to make the implementation of those laws a success and to winning similar laws in other states where grassroots organizers, fair housing groups, and legal services providers are interested in replicating important interventions like California’s A.B. 686, which is that state’s AFFH law.
Other news and resources
Responding to the President’s executive order attacking disparate impact: Our Executive Director Thomas Silverstein has an op-ed in Slate illustrating why President Trump’s executive order entitled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy” is inconsistent with civil rights laws.
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