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PRRAC — Connecting Research to Advocacy

Poverty & Race Research Action Council

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Federal Housing Advocacy – by Program

Page Contents

  • Disparate Impact (Discriminatory Effects Standard)
  • HUD Performance Overviews
  • Advocacy and Resources on Federal Housing Programs

PRRAC focuses much of its research and advocacy on the impact of federal housing policy on racial and economic segregation in America, and the search for meaningful remedies.  We believe that it is important to invest in and improve the quality of life for low-income people of color in disinvested communities, but also that the affirmative vision of civil rights policy cannot stop there.  We also work to develop explicit, complementary policies to reduce racial and economic segregation and expand access to high opportunity communities for low-income families of color.

Included on this page are our policy briefs and advocacy communications with the Department of Housing & Urban Development, the Department of Treasury and other agencies on specific federal policy issues.

Disparate Impact (Discriminatory Effects Standard)

The Discriminatory Effects Standard (commonly known as Disparate Impact) of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 upholds our societal obligation to fairness by respecting and protecting equal opportunity. The goal of the Disparate Impact standard is to root out unjustified practices that discriminate against groups protected by the Fair Housing Act, even where there is no specific evidence of discriminatory intent.  The standard is based on an understanding of how hidden, stubborn prejudice can result in needless, facially neutral policies that discriminate against protected classes in practice.  Without clear support for this standard from the federal government, both public and private actors will be given virtual license to design and implement discriminatory policies. 

PRRAC joined a campaign along with the National Fair Housing Alliance, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, American Civil Liberties Union, and Center for Responsible Lending. As national civil rights organizations, we are united by our belief in equality and fairness, our desire to educate the public on important civil rights protections, and our commitment to #DefendCivilRights from those looking to weaken them.

Open Communities Alliance v. HUD (2020)

In October 2020, PRRAC joined in a federal lawsuit to challenge the Trump Administration’s “disparate impact” rule, which adds a series of new hurdles for victims of discrimination at the pleading stage as well as adding unprecedented new defenses, making it virtually impossible to prevail on a disparate impact claim under the Fair Housing Act. Most egregiously, the rule eliminates “perpetuation of segregation” as a basis for liability under the Act. The plaintiffs include the Open Communities Alliance (CT) and SouthCoast Fair Housing (MA), represented by lawyers from the ACLU, Lawyers Committee, PRRAC, and Cohen & Milstein.

  • Nationwide Injunction Against the 2020 DI Rule – Massachusetts Housing Center and Housing Works, Inc v. HUD (October 2020)
  • Formal Complaint: OCA v. HUD (2020)
  • Press Release: ACLU, Open Communities Alliance, Southcoast Fair Housing, Civil Rights Orgs File Suit Against Department of Housing and Urban Development Rule Gutting Fair Housing Protections (October 2020)
  • New Federal Rule Will Make it Harder to Challenge Discrimination in the Housing Industry, Lawsuits Allege (Washington Post, October 2020)

Select Comment Letters

  • PRRAC (via Klein Hornig LLP) Comment Letter (October 2019)
  • Environmental Justice, Health, & Fair Housing Organizations and Practitioners Comment Letter (October 2019)

Other Selected Comment Letters

Relevant materials

  • Memorandum on Redressing Our Nation’s and the Federal Government’s History of Discriminatory Housing Practices and Policies (January 2021)
  • “Disparate Impact and an Antisubordination Approach to Civil Rights and Urban Policy” by Justin Steil (May-August 2019 P&R Issue)
  • PRESS RELEASE: PRRAC Condemns HUD’s New Assault on the Fair Housing Act (August 2019)
  • Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Regarding the Discriminatory Effects Standard (July 2019)
  • HUD’s Proposed Discriminatory Effects Standard Rule and Comments (2018)
  • “Honoring the Promise” by Former HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan (January-March 2018 P&R Issue)
  • Exec. Order 13777 Fair Housing Comment Letter Submitted by PRRAC and Coalition Partners (2017)
    • Directs each federal agency to form a “Regulatory Reform Task Force” and identify regulations to modify or rescind. In response to HUD’s Federal Register notice.
  • ICP v. Texas Amicus Briefs (2014)
  • HUD’s Proposed Discriminatory Effects Standard Rule and Comments (2013)

Disparate Impact News and Opinion

    • Column: HUD’s Attacks on Civil Rights Protections Contradict Science and the Supreme Court (Michigan Advance) October 10, 2019
    • Civil Rights Turned Topsy-Turvy: The Trump Administration is Moving on Two Fronts to Undo Civil Rights Protections. (New York Times Opinion) August 29, 2019
    • The Effects of Housing Discrimination on Health Can Reverberate for Decades (The Hill Opinion) August 27, 2019
    • Who’s to Blame When Algorithms Discriminate? (New York Times) August 20, 2019
    • The Trump Administration’s Assault on Fair Housing (Take Care Blog) August 19, 2019
    • How HUD Could Dismantle a Pillar of Civil Rights Law (CityLab) August 16, 2019

HUD Performance Overviews

  • PRRAC Law and Policy Associate Testimony at the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Public Briefing: “Are Rights a Reality? Evaluating Federal Civil Rights Enforcement” (PRRAC, November 2018)
  • Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing at HUD: A First Term Report Card (Part I: HUD Housing Programs) (PRRAC, January 2013)
  • Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing at HUD: A First Term Report Card (Part II: HUD Enforcement of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Requirement) (Lawyers’ Committee, National Fair Housing Alliance, and PRRAC, March 2013)

Advocacy and Resources on Federal Housing Programs

  • Cross Program Advocacy

  • Public Housing Redevelopment

  • Section 8 Voucher Reform

  • Civil Rights and Housing Finance Reform

  • The Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Regulation

  • Transportation Equity and Regional Housing Planning

  • The Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC)

  • Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO)

  • Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Home Investment Partnerships Program (HOME)

  • Moving to Work (MTW)

  • Advocacy and Resources: Miscellaneous HUD Programs

  • Older Advocacy and Resources

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Fair Housing

PRRAC’s fair housing work encompasses implementation of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing mandate, as well as research and advocacy to expand opportunity in federal housing programs at HUD, the Treasury Department, and state housing finance agencies. We also provide technical assistance to local housing agencies and advocates on AFFH, housing mobility, and local reform of the Housing Choice Voucher program.

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PRRAC – Poverty & Race Research Action Council

The Poverty & Race Research Action Council (PRRAC) is a civil rights law and policy organization based in Washington, D.C. Our mission is to promote research-based advocacy strategies to address structural inequality and disrupt the systems that disadvantage low-income people of color. PRRAC was founded in 1989, through an initiative of major civil rights, civil liberties, and anti-poverty groups seeking to connect advocates with social scientists working at the intersection of race and poverty…Read More

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PRRAC — Connecting Research to Advocacy

  • Fair Housing
    • Fair Housing Homepage
    • Federal Housing Advocacy – by Program
    • Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH)
    • Housing Mobility (Section 8)
    • Low Income Housing Tax Credit
    • Fair Housing and Community Development
  • School Diversity
  • Environmental Justice
  • Special Projects
    • Civil Rights History
    • Civil Rights & The Administrative State
    • Housing-School Nexus
    • International Human Rights and U.S. Civil Rights Policy
    • One Nation Indivisible: School Diversity, Immigrant Integration, and Multi-Racial Coalitions
    • PRRAC in the Courts
    • Alliance Housing Justice
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