Fair housing laws are under attack as housing discrimination cases rise

Fair housing laws are under attack as housing discrimination cases rise

National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) Releases Its 2025 Fair Housing Trends Report

By Lynda Carson - November 6, 2025

It’s day 37 of the government shutdown, and according to reports, the convicted felon President Donald J. Trump regime, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), reportedly have been weakening the Fair Housing Act, and have been ’systematically undermining’ fair housing law enforcement.

The Fair Housing Act (FHA) was passed as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. The law prohibits housing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status or national origin. It also requires federal agencies and recipients of federal housing funds to affirmatively further fair housing.

According to an archived website for the Department of Justice (DOJ) during June of 2023, in part it says, “The Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq., prohibits discrimination by direct providers of housing, such as landlords and real estate companies as well as other entities, such as municipalities, banks or other lending institutions and homeowners insurance companies whose discriminatory practices make housing unavailable to persons because of:

race or color

religion

sex

national origin

familial status, or

disability.

In cases involving discrimination in mortgage loans or home improvement loans, the Department may file suit under both the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.  The Department brings cases where there is evidence of a pattern or practice of discrimination or where a denial of rights to a group of persons raises an issue of general public importance. Where force or threat of force is used to deny or interfere with fair housing rights, the Department of Justice may institute criminal proceedings. The Fair Housing Act also provides procedures for handling individual complaints of discrimination. Individuals who believe that they have been victims of an illegal housing practice, may file a complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD] or file their own lawsuit in federal or state court. The Department of Justice brings suits on behalf of individuals based on referrals from HUD.”

A Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) link to file ‘fair housing’ complaints for discrimination may be found here.

However, as the government shutdown continues with the ’Fair Housing Act’ reportedly being under attack, and fair housing complaints being ignored by the federal government, yesterday according to a press release on the website of the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), for its 2025 Fair Housing Trends Report, in it part says, “There were 32,321 housing discrimination complaints were filed nationwide in 2024. The numbers signal one of the highest figures in more than two decades, amid a steep decline in the nation’s ability to enforce civil rights protections as federal funding cuts take hold during the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history. 
 
Disability related discrimination accounted for the largest share of complaints at 54.6%, followed by race, national origin, sex, familial status, and religion.
  
Complaints based on national origin rose 8.45% from the previous year, marking the highest number since 2018. 
 
Retaliation complaints more than doubled from the previous year to the highest recorded level.

And even as discrimination rises, the federal government is pulling back from enforcement. Recent mass firings at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) during the government shutdown have gutted the department’s ability to investigate violations. FHEO now has a third of the staff it had on January 20, 2025, when President Trump was sworn into office.

“This report sends a very clear message: America is in the midst of a fair and affordable housing crisis,” said Lisa Rice, President & CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance. “On top of the crisis, people are being denied housing opportunities because of immutable characteristics like race, gender, and disability status. And what makes this moment especially alarming is that our civil rights infrastructure itself is under attack across the country.” 

Deep funding cuts to fair housing programs have forced several community-based local fair housing agencies to close their doors—the very frontline groups that investigated nearly 75% of all housing discrimination complaints in 2024. These actions have left disabled veterans seeking to get off the streets; seniors requiring modifications to their homes; families with children seeking a home; survivors of domestic violence fleeing sexual and physical abuse; Black and Latino potential homebuyers seeking a mortgage; and more unprotected.
 
NFHA is calling on Congress to hold an immediate oversight hearing and ensure HUD’s fair housing programs are fully funded. 
 
“America’s fair housing infrastructure is being dismantled and defunded in the very moment it’s needed most,” said Nikitra Bailey, NFHA Executive Vice President. “Congress must ensure HUD’s fair housing programs are fully funded and exercise its oversight authority over HUD to ensure decades of civil rights progress is not reversed through unlawful executive action. Access to fair housing is a basic human right—it’s the law.”

The full 2025, NFHA Fair Housing Trends Report, may be found by clicking here

Two Whistleblowers Were Fired.

Additionally, according to a recent October 13, 2025 report with the Non Profit Quarterly that backs up what the NFHA is saying, in part it says, “A whistleblower report by four staff attorneys—Paul Osadebe, Palmer Heenan, and two anonymous complainants—at the Office of Fair Housing, a unit of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), highlights the real-world effects of these nonactions.

At least 115 federal fair housing cases have been halted or closed entirely since Trump took office.

The staff attorneys first wrote their whistleblower report in the form of a confidential letter to US Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on August 27. (Warren is the ranking Democratic Party member on the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.) They chose to make their letter public on September 22. One week later, on September 29, both Osadebe and Heenan were dismissed from their jobs; they have both indicated their intent to pursue protections as whistleblowers.

In 2023, there were 34,150 formal federal complaints filed. The National Fair Housing Alliance wrote in its 2024 report that “fair housing is technically the law of the land but the everyday reality for many is quite different. There are tens of thousands of fair housing complaints filed each year, in addition to millions of unreported housing discrimination incidents nationwide.”

Signs of a rollback in enforcement of fair housing laws were apparent early on. Shelterforce and ProPublica reported in May 2025 that “at least 115 federal fair housing cases have been halted or closed entirely since Trump took office, with hundreds more cases in jeopardy” and noted that staff had already been cut by one-third since the start of the year.”

What the Whistleblower Report Says

The HUD attorneys’ whistleblower report offers a stark illustration of the degree of the rollback in fair housing enforcement. Among the notable statistics:

• Estimated staff reduction of 65 percent (from 31 to 11)

• Reduction in Fair Housing staff attorneys from 22 to 6

• Decrease in charges of discrimination issued, from a historical annual average of 35 to 4

The whistleblower complaint also detailed a “a strict gag order that limits the ability of civil rights work to proceed. This order forbids OFH [Office of Fair Housing] attorney communication with external parties, including DOJ [Department of Justice] and other governmental agencies, and the parties in civil rights complaints, without express approval from political leadership.”
There are also other aspects of the Fair Housing Office’s work that are being impeded. For instance, the Office of Fair Housing has been tasked with implementing a section of the Violence Against Women Act that sought to ensure that victims of domestic violence can get safe housing.
This, Osadebe explained to NPQ, is “the law that moves people to safe housing when they are being stalked or being assaulted by their partner of someone is abusing their kids and need to get out of there or get off the street.”

Osadebe related that he was on the team assigned to the implementation of the Violence Against Women Act, and noted that the Trump administration “wanted to reassign almost that entire team away from that work.”

“We are the only ones who have the authority to enforce that law. So, if we can’t do it, it just won’t be enforced,” he emphasized. “By destroying that team and they destroyed the investigative team that investigates those cases as well…[the] law is just not going to be enforced going forward, which means people are in physical danger.”

Osadebe also commented on the broader impact of the rollback in enforcement of fair housing law: “It’s gotten to the point where…people are being recommended to just drop their cases by investigators at HUD, by outside counsel, by HUD itself now. They are subtly implying, ‘Hey. We have added a whole bunch of roadblocks. So, are you sure you want to go ahead? Are you sure you want to keep your claim with us? Don’t you just want to withdraw this?’”

As recent as September 29, 2025, the National Low-income Coalition (NLIHC) released a report, that in part says, “Under the current Trump Administration, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) leadership is attempting to dismantle civil rights and fair housing protections. Whistleblowers from HUD’s Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) office have recently come forward with details on HUD’s actions. A September 22 New York Times article reveals the extent of the Administration’s efforts, using internal communications, interviews, and whistleblowers’ accounts to provide evidence that HUD is directly impeding fair housing laws and allowing for housing discrimination. NLIHC joined National Fair Housing Alliance, publicly denouncing HUD’s abdication of its fair housing obligations and applauding the public servants who called attention to HUD’s alleged violation of civil rights law. Tell your members of Congress that the “Fair Housing Act” is not optional, and HUD must defend civil rights in housing!”

Lynda Carson may be reached at newzland2 [at] gmail.com

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