Warren Calls on Government Watchdog to Investigate Cuts to HUD Fair Housing Enforcement
“Despite HUD’s key role in enforcing the Fair Housing Act, however, the Trump Administration has taken steps to reduce the agency’s ability to fulfill this key function.”
Washington, DC – Today, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, penned a letter with Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Raphael Warnock (D-G.a.), and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the federal government’s watchdog agency, calling for an investigation into the Trump Administration’s drastic cuts to fair housing enforcement at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
“We write to request that the Government Accountability Office investigate recent actions undertaken at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and by the administration’s newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to reduce the resources available for the enforcement of fair housing laws,” the Senators wrote.
The Senators continued: “According to a report from the National Fair Housing Alliance, an estimated 34,000 fair housing complaints were made in 2023. HUD is required by various federal fair housing and civil rights laws to affirmatively further the purposes of the Fair Housing Act … Despite HUD’s key role in enforcing the Fair Housing Act, however, the Trump Administration has taken steps to reduce the agency’s ability to fulfill this key function. Specifically, the Administration reportedly plans to terminate nearly 80 percent of FHEO staff, has terminated key Fair Housing Act enforcement grants, and reversed or halted enforcement of key HUD rules, including the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule and the Equal Access Rule.”
Today’s letter follows Ranking Member Warren’s letter to HUD Secretary Turner with Housing Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) detailing how the Trump-Musk cuts to HUD’s fair housing office would embolden housing discrimination.
###
Next Article Previous Article