New Trump Rule Could Weaken A Civil Rights Era Housing Discrimination Law
The Trump administration is moving to weaken the civil rights-era Fair Housing Act — making it much harder to bring lawsuits alleging discrimination in housing, according to housing advocates. But conservative groups applaud the move and say it would stop frivolous lawsuits.
A draft of the Department of Housing and Urban Development rule, obtained by NPR, would target a powerful weapon that's used in discrimination cases. It's called "disparate impact." That means that to prove discrimination in a lawsuit, plaintiffs don't have to prove, for example, that a bank employee is refusing to make loans to people of color. They just have to show that a company has a business practice that, on its face, may not purposefully discriminate but has a discriminatory effect.
In one current case, a fair housing group is suing Bank of America, alleging that when the bank foreclosed on homes in recent years, it treated the vacant houses very differently in white neighborhoods than it did minority neighborhoods.
he Department of Housing and Urban Development says it can't comment on the proposed rule yet. But in an earlier statement, HUD Secretary Ben Carson said the department "remains committed to making sure housing-related policies and practices treat people fairly." But civil rights advocates say they're worried. They say that beyond this proposed housing rule, the Trump administration is looking to roll back civil rights protections in education and in terms of which groups of people deserve protection from discrimination.
The proposal, which is not yet public, is expected to be released in August.
https://www.npr.org/2019/07/31/747006108/a-new-trump-rule-could-weaken-a-civil-rights-era-housing-discrimination-law
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