Four member organizations of the National Fair Housing Alliance filed a Class Action Complaint against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the Federal District Court of Massachusetts on Thursday, March 13.
The action was taken to challenge HUD’s sudden and unlawful termination on Feb. 27 of Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) funding to 60 organizations across the country and jeopardizing over $30 million in congressionally authorized funding for local programs to enforce fair housing laws.
Notices sent to all effected organizations directly stated that HUD was acting at the direction of DOGE claiming the grants “no longer effectuate the program goals or agency priorities” of HUD.
The lawsuit is brought on behalf of a proposed national class of the 60 FHIP recipient groups impacted, including South Suburban Housing Center (SSHC), located in Homewood, and four other Illinois private fair housing NFHA member organizations.
A copy of the filing can be found here.
SSHC has been a fair housing grant recipient in good standing, receiving fair housing enforcement, education, mortgage distress and recently special American Rescue Plan grants for over 25 consecutive years with its performance rated as “excellent” by monitoring HUD staff.
The cancellation notice received for two current multi-year enforcement, education and outreach grants would reduce $550,000 from SSHC’s next 12-month budget period representing 92% of Fair Housing Program funding and 37% of its entire current budget.
These funds had already been committed by HUD through grant agreements. If these funds are not recovered, SSHC would be forced to reduce fair housing enforcement staffing from the current five full-time positions to one part-time equivalent.
These resource reductions will have dire impacts on SSHC’s ability to assist its six-county south metro Chicago and central Illinois service region, with 3.2 million inhabitants including:
- Providing full service to individuals in fair housing protected classes with intake evaluations, investigations, assistance with legal representation, informal resolutions, and the filing of formal complaints involving surging race, disability, source of income, and national origin violation issues;
- Implementing community relief damage programs obtained by the resolution of fair housing cases, that have been used in recent years by SSHC to help stabilize economically struggling communities by funding downpayment assistance awards to owner-occupying home buyers;
- Reacting to housing crisis situations such as getting emergency housing and real estate tax arrearage relief to COVID-related income disruptions of families in our service areas;
- Conducting systemic violation monitoring of appraisal, tax assessment, mortgage lending and homeowners’ insurance practices for redlining and other discriminatory practices.
SSHC Executive Director John Petruszak said in reaction to the grant terminations and the necessary class action challenge taken: “South Suburban Housing Center’s mission to address housing discrimination and to foster diverse, inclusive communities, is based on foundational principles taken directly from the federal Fair Housing Act.
“Throughout its 50-year history, SSHC’s programs have partnered with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as well as state and local government agencies to enforce fair housing laws, ensuring individual rights are protected and addressing discriminatory activities that threaten housing market diversity.
“The actions of HUD and DOGE are aimed at destroying this efficient local partnership and more importantly violate HUD’s legal obligations and congressional responsibilities to enforce the Fair Housing Act.”
About South Suburban Housing Center
SSHC is the private, non-profit, regional fair housing and housing counseling agency primarily serving over 100 communities in southern Cook, Will, and Kankakee counties of Illinois since 1975. SSHC’s mission is the promotion and fostering of long-term diversity by working to eliminate all forms of discrimination and exploitation in the housing markets. SSHC’s Fair Housing Enforcement Services extend to Grundy and Iroquois Counties in Illinois, Lake County, Indiana, and several underserved central Illinois cities. Find out more at https://southsuburbanhousingcenter.org.