The Trump Administration is Attacking Civil Rights Protections. Help us Fight Back

Dear Friend of Fair Housing,

Have you sent in your comment yet? (Comment here)

The time period to voice your opposition to a HUD-proposed rule that would make it virtually impossible to bring fair housing cases that allege disparate impact is closing in only 3 days.   PLEASE do not delay.  We need EVERYONE who supports fair housing to send in a comment TODAY. We are asking you to stand with us in solidarity as we fight against this brazen attack on our civil rights.

Many of the legal challenges brought by the FHC to stop discriminatory housing practices in Palm Beach County, the State of Florida and throughout the nation have focused on policies that had a disparate and adverse impact on the basis of race, national origin, disability, and other protected characteristics.  These cases have involved insidious discrimination that has excluded entire populations and perpetuated residential segregation. Disparate impact claims have been brought under the federal Fair Housing Act for 45 years.

The proposed rule, if enacted, would establish an onerous 5-step process, a process that would clearly preclude FHC and other plaintiffs from bringing future legal challenges that contain disparate impact claims. This will impair our ability to effectively and vigorously enforce fair housing laws, creating a chilling effect on all who seek to exercise their fair housing rights.

The words of  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. still resonate today: “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.”  In our ongoing struggle for fair housing, this is a moment that requires all of us to act.

The FHC urges all of its supporters to please stand up for Dr. Kings legacy by visiting  DefendCivilRights.org. Then, spread the word on social media so that people who cherish our hard-fought civil rights must take a moment out of their busy days to voice their opposition to a rule that would turn back the clock on fair housing and give comfort to all those who have found more subtle, clever, or technologically sophisticated ways to discriminate in housing.