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Amid the turmoil since the Trump administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, began slashing funding and firing workers across the federal structure, housing has not received much media attention. In fact the most significant thing that has happened with the Department of Housing and Urban Development has been the reported plans to cut its staff by half.

However, housing advocates are claiming victory — at least for now — in a lawsuit in which they accused HUD of taking away grant funding from groups that help people fight for fair housing.

Four organizations affiliated with the National Fair Housing Alliance, including the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center; the Intermountain Fair Housing Council; Fair Housing Council of South Texas; and the Housing Research and Advocacy Center, sued HUD last month to stop the agency from eliminating funding for dozens of agencies that take a stand against housing discrimination by enforcing the Fair Housing Act. On March 13, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order that reinstated 78 Fair Housing Initiatives Program grants that these and other groups use.

Lisa Rice, president of the NFHA, told URL Media that while this is a victory for the programs utilizing the grants, the fight isn’t over. In fact, she said, it’s just getting started.

“They are not done,” Rice said. “This is just one of the things they have done to attack fair housing and civil rights. Trump, DOGE, the Department of Justice, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a lot of the things they have done you don’t see in the media.  For example, she said, the CFPB last year fined Townstone Financial, a Chicago-based mortgage lender, for discriminatory redlining. But in an appellate case, the agency last week asked a court to give back the money.

“There are many different things they have done to dismantle civil rights and make it clear that they don’t want to advance fair housing,” she said. She said the NFHA has been waiting to meet with Scott Turner, the Trump White House’s sole Black cabinet member, since he was appointed to HUD leadership. He has yet to schedule a meeting with them.

But for now, the plaintiffs are pleased that the elimination of the grants have been pulled back by the temporary restraining order. The first brief on that motion is expected April 21, according to an NHFA spokesperson.

“We are heartened by the judge’s decision to ensure these programs, which are lifelines for communities striving for equitable housing, can continue for now,” Yiyang Wu, partner with Relman Colfax, the law firm representing the plaintiffs, said in a prepared statement. “We will continue fighting to protect those on the front lines for combatting housing discrimination.” 

The grants in the lawsuit had been thrown out by HUD at the urging of DOGE in the Trump-ordered sweep of the federal government. Turner had already started his own DOGE task force. About 300 probationary HUD employees were fired on Feb. 14, but got an email on March 17 reinstating them, according to FederalNewsNetwork.com. In a video posted to X, Turner said the agency is “laser focused on eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse.”

Traditionally, HUD has championed housing issues for people of color and the poor. Under former Secretary Marcia Fudge, its mission was clearly defined as advocating for “strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all.” In addition, its purpose is to “strengthen the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers; meet the need for quality affordable rental homes; utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of life; build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination.”

But upon viewing the agency’s revamped website, the mission statement has disappeared, and searches for pages involving terms like “diversity” and “discrimination” only redirect to the homepage.

URL Media reached out to HUD officials to ask about the lawsuit, but received no response. 

But  Natalie Maxwell, Managing Attorney, National Housing Law Project, said that this is a continuing trend in HUD’s behavior since Trump has taken office.
“We have to think about this in terms of the whole of actions we’ve seen by this administration,” she told URL Media. ‘When it comes ot enforcing fair housing rights, which is a core mission of HUD,  there has been a retreat from fair housing rights and civil rights overall.

“What we are also seeing from Trump and HUD is policies that weaponize fear and blame immigrants and LGBTQ people for the affordable housing crisis,” Maxwell continued. “The action to defund local fair housing centers is really part of that agenda.”

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