Urge HUD to Fully Enforce the Fair Housing Act and Withdraw Proposed Rule to Eliminate Civil Rights Tools

February 3, 2026

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Proposed Rule would substantially weaken the ability to enforce the Fair Housing Act and leave people with little recourse to fight rampant discrimination in the credit and housing markets. 

For over 50 years the Fair Housing Act (FHA) has been used to fight discrimination in the sale, rental, or financing of housing on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, and familial status. HUD has long interpreted the FHA to prohibit practices that have an unjustified discriminatory effect, regardless of intent, known as the “disparate impact” standard.

But now, HUD proposes to remove the discriminatory effects regulations. This erasure would make it harder for HUD to enforce the FHA, hamper the ability of consumers to submit complaints or seek relief in court for discrimination, and create uncertainty for housing providers, mortgage lenders, and other entities. 

Civil rights and fair housing advocates, consumer attorneys, and government enforcers have  used the FHA’s disparate impact standard to challenge a wide variety of discriminatory practices in housing, insurance, and consumer finance, including seeking relief for:

• Victims of predatory mortgage lenders;
• Rental applicants screened out of housing opportunities by biased tenant screening algorithms, including applicants with criminal records;;
• People with disabilities denied accessible housing or a reasonable accommodation; and
• Immigrants and Limited English Proficient (LEP) populations facing housing or credit discrimination.

The disparate impact standard is critical because discrimination is often not overt – few housing providers, lenders or other industry actors will openly admit to biased practices

HUD should withdraw this proposed rule, reaffirm the current standard, and step up enforcement under the Fair Housing Act. HUD must work to dismantle discriminatory policies that deny access to housing and economic opportunity. 

NCLC has prepared a fact sheet describing the rule and our allies at the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) have prepared a template comment and web submission form you can use to submit short, unique comments.