A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s attempts to overhaul funding practices to nonprofits that pursue housing discrimination claims.
In the ruling, which reinstated a decades-old funding mechanism, Judge Myong J. Joun of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts said that HUD’s sweeping changes to a longstanding grant program did not “add up” and that its effects would “cut out more fair housing organizations than they include.”
The court order restoring the funding is the latest volley in a lawsuit filed by nonprofit organizations dedicated to promoting fair housing. These groups, which rely on grants from HUD to cover large chunks of their operating expenses, are the primary way in which most fair housing law violations are investigated. For some small groups, HUD grants make up almost their entire budget.
According to the complaint, changes to that grant-making process under the Fair Housing Initiatives Program, would force fair housing groups to significantly cut back on the services they provide or shut down entirely.
The department had argued that its efforts were part of a “large-scale modernization effort, aimed at broadening participation and aligning discretionary funding with current fair housing priorities,” according to the ruling.
“This pithy description falls woefully short of the mark in both form and substance,” wrote Judge Joun, who also noted that the changes attempted to modify grant agreements with “unrelated conditions — such as gender ideology beliefs, immigration stances, and faith-based language.”
