September 6, 2019 | Categories: About FHC | Tags: civil rights, Defend Civil Rights, Disparate Impact, Disparate Impact Claim, Fair Housing Act, HUD, NFHA
A vital protection against housing segregation and discrimination is under attack. The current administration is attempting to rollback protections against housing discrimination by gutting a part of the Fair Housing Act (FHA).
At stake is a protection under the FHA called “disparate impact.” This protection says that lenders, landlords, and other housing professionals should choose policies that apply fairly to all persons. Some policies that seem neutral in theory can, in practice, unfairly exclude certain groups of people or segregate particular communities.
Click here to read actual examples of disparate impact cases in specific communities.
If the changes to the FHA go through, it will have a profound negative impact on the housing choices of millions of Americans; it will damage the fabric of our neighborhoods and communities for decades to come. We must maintain the full force of our federal civil rights laws, including the Fair Housing Act, because racial and other forms of discrimination still persist.
Our office alone has taken 122 complaints since January, and we are only one of the four private nonprofit fair housing centers in Michigan. The National Fair Housing Alliance reports that more than 4 million instances of housing discrimination occur each year, and the vast majority are unreported.
We are asking you to help us fight back by commenting in opposition to the proposed changes at www.defendcivilrights.org. You will also find facts and tools to help you form your comments on their website.
This aggressive attack on a key civil rights protection is just the latest attack on civil rights and civil liberties. We must do all we can to stop the revisions to this important law! Please submit a comment opposing the changes by October 18th.