Attorney General James Urges Appellate Court to Reinstate Funding for Fair Housing Organizations

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today co-led a coalition of 20 other attorneys general in urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to reinstate congressionally-appropriated funding for fair housing organizations in New York and across the country. In February, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) cancelled 78 grants for fair housing organizations that provide vital work in 33 states, including New York. These funds help housing groups investigate discriminatory housing practices, educate the public of their rights and obligations under federal and state fair-housing laws, and enforce those laws in actions brought before government agencies and in court. Attorney General James and the coalition are urging the court to reinstate a lower court’s temporary restraining order to keep the funding intact.

“The Trump administration’s funding cuts to fair housing groups will only worsen the nationwide housing crisis,” said Attorney General James. “Fair housing groups are critical in helping states stop housing providers and lenders from discriminating against vulnerable people, and we need them now more than ever to ensure that everyone has fair access to dignified housing. I am urging the First Circuit to restore congressionally approved funding for fair housing groups so we can continue to protect access to housing for those who need it most.”

Congress established the Fair Housing Initiative Program (FHIP) in 1988 to provide funding to private, nonprofit housing organizations that work to investigate and eliminate discriminatory housing practices and enforce state and federal fair housing laws. In February 2025, HUD suddenly cancelled 78 preexisting FHIP grants to housing organizations doing fair housing work in 33 states. The cancellations were effective immediately and with no prior warning, despite HUD being statutorily required to provide such funding.  

A group of 66 nonprofit fair housing groups subsequently sued HUD in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and are now calling on an appellate court to reinstate a temporary restraining order barring HUD’s action from taking effect. In their brief, the attorneys general argue that HUD’s sudden revocation of funding could result in more discrimination against families and vulnerable community members in need of housing, and will disrupt state programs that depend on collaboration with fair housing groups to root out discriminatory housing practices.

The attorneys general assert that fair housing groups help states stop discriminatory housing practices in several ways. For example, as the brief highlights, FHIP organizations in New York routinely bring enforcement actions on behalf of disabled individuals seeking to redress discrimination in the design and construction of apartment buildings, or uncover new or previously undetected forms of discrimination, such as biases in the algorithmic models used in housing advertisements. In other states, FHIP organizations have brought enforcement actions against banks and mortgage companies after a multiyear investigation showed that foreclosed properties in Black and Latino communities were not maintained or marketed to the same standards as those in other, predominantly white communities. Housing organizations that receive FHIP funds also provide critical consultation and advocacy services for New Yorkers facing housing crises, by helping individuals access state resources, mediate disputes with landlords, and file claims with state agencies, like the New York Division of Human Rights, that investigate and adjudicate claims of housing discrimination. The attorneys general argue in their brief that without the funding from HUD, dozens of fair housing groups across the country will not be able to help tenants, report housing injustices, and stop discriminatory housing against low-income, marginalized, or disabled individuals.

Joining Attorney General James in submitting this brief are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.