Attorney General Bonta Co-Leads Multistate Coalition in Opposing Rollback of Crucial Fair Housing Regulations

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta co-led a coalition of 24 attorneys general in sending a comment letter to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) opposing an unlawful attempt to rollback regulations under the Fair Housing Act (FHA). The FHA prohibits discrimination based on the effects of a housing policy, even if the intent of the policy was not to discriminate. HUD’s proposed rule change would remove all mentions of liability under the FHA for discrimination that results from the effects of an action. 

“Once again, the Trump Administration is attempting to shirk its obligation to end housing discrimination and foster diverse communities. We fought similar attempts during the first Trump presidency, and we have no qualms about doing so again now,” said Attorney General Bonta. “This is a matter of right and wrong. While we have made progress in recent decades, there’s still more work to do — and my fellow attorneys general and I are committed to protecting the hard-won gains that have been made and building on them.”

In their letter, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition assert that discrimination and segregation in housing persist in the country and disproportionately harm people of color, women, LGBTQ+ individuals, individuals with disabilities, and other historically marginalized groups. The coalition is urging HUD to keep the current rule in place to ensure greater equality of opportunity in housing. 

The attorneys general argue that:

• Discriminatory effects liability is a critical tool for HUD and states to enforce the FHA and state laws and to protect residents against arbitrary and unnecessary practices that limit access to housing. States have used discriminatory effects claims to challenge many types of seemingly neutral policies that can have a discriminatory effect, such as zoning ordinances, occupancy restrictions, no-pet policies, and English-only policies.
• Removal of these regulations would increase burdens on state agencies to provide information about rights and responsibilities. It would also send a false message that certain forms of unlawful discrimination are now acceptable, even though they remain prohibited under the law. 
• The proposed rule change would be unlawful because HUD failed to provide a justification for removing the longstanding regulations and because the existing rule accurately reflects federal law. They also argue HUD failed to consider that the existing rule benefits the public by providing a consistent, nationwide resource that clearly explains what conduct violates the FHA and what the legal standard is for making discrimination claims and defending against them.

The comment letter was co-led by Attorney General Bonta, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Joining them are the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.