“A bill to restore the fair housing mission of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section sets forth 11 congressional findings that the current Administration has undermined fair housing protections through actions by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary, including (1) halting enforcement of the Equal Access Rule protecting homeless individuals from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in shelters and services; (2) announcing plans to revise the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, submitting related rules for review, and rescinding the AFFH rule via an interim final rule; (3) canceling 78 Fair Housing Initiatives Program grants to nonprofit organizations investigating housing discrimination; (4) providing the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) access to confidential fair housing complaints; and (5) related staff reductions and a federal court temporary restraining order on March 25, 2025, reinstating the grants.
This section defines terms for the Act: (1) "artificial intelligence," as given in section 238(g) of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (10 U.S.C. 2358 note); (2) "covered housing," which—for Fair Housing Act complaints (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.)—includes housing assisted under specified federal programs such as supportive housing for the elderly under Section 202 of the Housing Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q) (i.e., capital advances and project rental assistance for very low-income elderly persons), supportive housing for persons with disabilities under Section 811 (42 U.S.C. 8013), Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS under subtitle D of title VIII of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12901 et seq.), McKinney-Vento homeless assistance programs (42 U.S.C. 11371 et seq.), HOME Investment Partnerships (42 U.S.C. 12741 et seq.), FHA Section 203-insured housing (12 U.S.C. 1709), Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac securitized loans, Section 236 multifamily rental assistance (12 U.S.C. 1715z-1), public housing (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.), Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers and project-based rental assistance (42 U.S.C. 1437f), Housing Trust Fund projects (12 U.S.C. 4568), rural housing programs (42 U.S.C. 1484 et seq.), low-income housing tax credit properties (26 U.S.C. 42), various VA homeless programs (38 U.S.C.), CDFI Fund housing (12 U.S.C. 4701 et seq.), NeighborWorks (42 U.S.C. 8101 et seq.), CDBG (42 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.), VAWA transitional housing (34 U.S.C. 12351), and others as specified—and which—for Violence Against Women Act complaints (34 U.S.C. 12291 et seq.)—means a covered housing program as defined in section 41411 of that Act (34 U.S.C. 12491); (3) "Department," meaning the Department of Housing and Urban Development; and (4) "Secretary," meaning the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
This section amends the purpose section of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act by (1) revising the section heading to "Purpose; mission of department", (2) designating the existing declaration of purpose as subsection (a), and (3) adding subsection (b) to establish the mission of the Department of Housing and Urban Development as creating strong, sustainable, inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all, including by strengthening the housing market to bolster the economy and protect consumers, meeting the need for quality affordable rental homes, utilizing housing as a platform for improving quality of life, building inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination, and transforming departmental operations.
This section directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), not later than 90 days after the date of enactment, to (1) repeal the interim final rule issued on March 3, 2025, entitled “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Revisions”; and (2) issue a rule defining “affirmatively furthering fair housing” (i.e., a Fair Housing Act obligation for HUD program participants to take proactive steps, beyond nondiscrimination, to promote fair housing) to mean taking meaningful actions that overcome patterns of segregation, foster inclusive communities free from barriers to opportunity based on protected characteristics, address significant disparities in housing needs and access to opportunity, replace segregated living patterns with integrated and balanced ones, transform racially or ethnically concentrated areas of poverty into areas of opportunity, and promote compliance with civil rights and fair housing laws—with the duty extending to all of a program participant’s activities and programs relating to housing and urban development.
This section directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to submit to Congress, not later than 180 days after enactment, a report reviewing complaints filed under section 810 of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3610)—which authorizes HUD to receive and investigate housing discrimination complaints—during the five-year period preceding enactment that alleged discriminatory housing practices involving a digital platform or artificial intelligence used for (1) advertisement delivery and targeting, (2) tenant screening, (3) automated mortgage underwriting, (4) dynamic pricing of real estate, or (5) real estate listings. The report must also include an analysis of trends and risks related to discrimination via digital platforms in housing rental or purchase, the sufficiency of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3601 et seq.) to remedy such discrimination, and steps HUD plans to address it.
This section directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to develop and update quarterly a publicly available database on the Department's website containing Fair Housing Act (FHA) complaint data, subject to applicable confidentiality constraints, that includes: (1) total FHA complaints received, disaggregated by protected class as to number and percentage; (2) number and percentage of complaints alleging violations of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994; (3) of such complaints, number and percentage made by persons experiencing homelessness, by tenants, or by applicants for covered housing (disaggregated by housing type); (4) for each state, number and percentage of such complaints by residents; (5) number and percentage of such complaints alleging retaliation after reporting (including number and percentage alleging eviction for retaliation); (6) status of such complaints, with descriptions of resolutions, remedies, and reasons for administrative closures; (7) number and percentage of FHA complaints received by state agencies under the Fair Housing Assistance Program or local agencies under the Fair Housing Initiatives Program; (8) number and percentage of FHA complaints ending in a reasonable cause charge by the Secretary or referral to the Attorney General by the Secretary; and (9) number and percentage of FHA complaints received by the Attorney General not referred by the Secretary.