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A Massachusetts federal judge has temporarily stopped the Department of Housing and Urban Development from cutting $30 million in grants to fair housing local groups.
Judge Richard G. Stearns said HUD must immediately restore 78 Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) grants and cannot attempt to cancel the grants again under a new order. HUD must send a notice to its employees about the reinstatement of FHIP grants and submit a compliance report by Friday, March 28. Any FHIP grants HUD cancels after the judge’s order, which expires 14 days from March 27, must be consistent with prior appropriations from Congress.
Lisa Rice
The National Fair Housing Alliance praised Stearn’s decision in a statement on Thursday. The group, with the help of law firm Relman Colfax, filed the suit against HUD to have the grants reinstated.
“We are grateful for [Tuesday’s] decision granting a temporary restraining order, halting the wrongful and unlawful termination of FHIP grants to fight housing discrimination,” NFHA President and CEO Lisa Rice said in a prepared statement. “This action, taken by HUD at the direction of its internal DOGE task force, is endangering everyday people while empowering wealthy landlords and others to discriminate.”
“FHIP grants, which are authorized by Congress and receive annual appropriations, have been provided for decades under administrations of both parties and are key to the nation’s ability to enforce the Fair Housing Act and ensure equal access to housing,” she added.
Representative Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) sounded the alarm on HUD’s cost-cutting plan, which included canceling fair housing grants and eliminating 50 percent of its staff, on March 17. The congresswomen said HUD’s cuts, which are aligned with President Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) attack on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), violate HUD’s mandate to protect housing-related civil rights laws.
The two leaders, along with 106 of their colleagues, sent a letter to HUD Secretary Scott Turner demanding that he provide Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) staffing statistics, planned layoffs and restructuring efforts, the current number and status of pending fair housing complaints and the number of pending fair housing complaints that have been closed since Jan. 20.
They also asked Turner to explain DOGE’s activity at HUD, provide a copy of HUD’s proposed revisions to the Equal Access Rule, and write a detailed plan for how HUD will enforce fair housing.
“These statutes were enacted by Congress to prohibit discrimination in housing and federally funded programs based on race, color, national origin, disability, sex, familial status, religion, and other protected characteristics,” Waters’ and Warren’s letter read. “You previously voiced your commitment to upholding the Fair Housing Act during your Senate confirmation hearing, yet your actions in your first month on the job have directly contradicted that statement.”
The congresswomen gave Turner until March 27 to respond and schedule an in-person briefing. Turner hasn’t publicly acknowledged Waters’ and Warren’s request, with his latest slate of statements and social media posts touting Opportunity Zones, praising President Trump’s plans to redevelop unused federal lands for residential use, and attacking grants for minority and women-owned businesses in Asheville that were destroyed during Hurricane Helene.
The secretary also announced plans to ban nonresident aliens from applying for Federal Housing Administration-insured loans and receiving federal housing assistance. Nonresident aliens are not U.S. citizens and have not passed the green card test or the substantial presence test, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
However, that doesn’t automatically mean nonresident aliens are in the U.S. illegally — nonresident alien status includes people who are in the country legally through visa programs for students, specialty workers, and Canadian and Mexican professionals who need temporary entry for work opportunities with a U.S. employer, among other designations.
“Once again, let me be clear DEI is dead at HUD,” Turner said in HUD release. “We will not provide funding to any program or grantee that does not comply with President Trump’s executive orders.”
