New Issue of Poverty & Race: A new issue of our publication Poverty & Race is available for readers. This issue features three exciting contributions. First, whistleblowers and fair housing lawyers Paul Osadebe and Palmer Heenan chronicle how the Trump Administration has dismantled civil rights enforcement at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Next, friends of PRRAC Ruthy Gourevitch of the Climate and Community Institute and Jacob Udell of the University Neighborhood Housing Program dive into financial distress in the multifamily real estate sector, the role of climate change in causing it, and the implications for tenants and organizers. Lastly, Brence Pernell of Columbia Law School and Kelley Akhiemokhali of Baylor College of Medicine have a pieceexploring how civil rights law legend Pauli Murray viewed the Thirteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. With the Supreme Court narrowing Congress’s power to enforce the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments via its decision in Callais v. Louisiana, the Thirteenth Amendment’s importance as a source of Congressional authority is as great as it has ever been.
Proposed OMB Restrictions on Federal Grantees: On May 29, 2026, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and many federal agencies, including HUD, published a notice of proposed rulemaking that, if it is finalized and goes into effect, would impose a litany of unwarranted funding conditions on recipients of federal financial assistance. The conditions are further evidence of the Trump Administration’s cruel desire to inflict harm on transgender people and immigrants and its refusal to acknowledge that the disparate impact framework is the law of the land under multiple time-honored civil rights statutes, including the Fair Housing Act. This rulemaking is an attempt to formalize in regulation many of the unlawful grant conditions that various agencies have been imposing in a more ad hoc fashion through the provisions of notices of funding opportunity. Advocates and grantees have been successful in challenging those actions in court in many instances. PRRAC expects to file a comment letter opposing the proposed rule, and others who are interested in doing so have until July 13 to submit their comments on Regulations.Gov.
Other news and resources
Boston Globe Op-Ed on Rent Control Initiative: On May 29, 2026, friends of PRRAC Tram Hoang of PolicyLink and Professor Mark Paul of Rutgers University published an outstanding op-ed making the case for rent control, a hugely salient issue in Massachusetts with an initiative to adopt rent control statewide on the ballot this fall. This April, PRRAC, with local counsel from Community Legal Aid, filed an amicus brief in support of the eligibility of the initiative to be on the ballot.
Buy Your Ticket to Drafting Justice: A Summer Celebration of Movement Wins: We are excited to invite you to PRRAC’s inaugural Drafting Justice, a summer gathering dedicated to celebrating recent wins in civil rights and affordable housing. The evening will be hosted on Thursday, July 16th from 6 PM to 9 PM at the new Atlas Brew Works in the Bridge District of Washington, D.C. You can purchase your tickets here.
A Break from the Parade of Horribles – Role Players Edition: NBA Finals fever has swept through the PRRAC office, and, as keen observers can tell, sometimes key contributions in critical moments come when a role player like Landry Shamet or Julian Champagnie (or, tragically, now-Spurs benchwarmer Kelly Olynyk in Game 7 of the 2017 Eastern Conference Semifinals) hits a big three-pointer rather than through the heroics of stars like Jalen Brunson or Victor Wembanyama. In this Update, our crew shares their favorite role players (from both within and outside of the world of basketball) who have helped their teams unlock their full potential without demanding the spotlight.
- Gina: Bruce Brown (who was recently inducted into the METCO hall of fame)
- Tessa: Just hopes everyone has fun!
- Thomas: Garrett Temple (for providing some defensive steel to the mid-2010s Wizards’ playoff teams and for his longstanding leadership in the National Basketball Players Association)
