New York To Join Suit Against Trump Administration Housing Policy

NEW YORK, NY — New York State officials plan to join a federal lawsuit challenging an effort by President Donald Trump's administration to roll back enforcement of a landmark anti-housing discrimination law.

The Empire State will be the first in the nation to join the case fighting the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's suspension of a rule that aimed to force local governments to fight housing segregation under the Fair Housing Act of 1968, officials said Monday.

"New York will not stand by and allow the federal government to undo decades of progress in housing rights," Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who previously led HUD, said in a statement. "The right to rent or buy housing free from discrimination is fundamental under the law, and we must do everything in our power to protect those rights and fight segregation in our communities."

The National Fair Housing Alliance and two other groups sued HUD Secretary Ben Carson, a Republican, and his agency last week for suspending a 2015 rule requiring municipalities that receive federal housing funds to develop detailed plans to fight discrimination in housing and encourage integration.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the District of Columbia, says HUD failed to properly explain the move, which amounts to neglect of its duty to enforce the 50-year-old Fair Housing Act's protections against housing discrimination.

"This harms New York State, it harms our economy, and we have a responsibility to protect New Yorkers," Alphonso David, the Democratic governor's counsel, said at a news conference Monday. "We cannot underestimate the importance of the Fair Housing Act in addressing vestiges of discrimination and bias that have plagued us for all too long."

Adopted under former president Barack Obama, the so-called "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule" affects as much as $5.5 billion in funding distributed annually to more than 40 jurisdictions in New York and hundreds more across the country, according to Cuomo's office.

HUD suspended the rule in January, saying municipalities were struggling to understand the regulations and that the agency was using too many resources reviewing submitted plans.

That means most governments receiving federal money won't have to submit their plans until at least 2024, according to the lawsuit. HUD also won't review plans that have already been submitted or require revisions to those that have been rejected, the complaint says.

Advocates argue the suspension dulled key teeth to a law that had not been properly enforced for decades, allowing local governments to accept billions of dollars in federal funding while doing little to address lingering racial inequalities.

"Decades of experience have shown that, left to their own devices, local jurisdictions will simply pocket federal funds and do little to further fair housing objectives," the lawsuit says.

HUD has defended its move, saying the suspended rule "wasn't working well."

"HUD stands by the Fair Housing Act’s requirement to affirmatively furthering fair housing, but we must make certain that the tools we provide to our grantees work in the real world," the agency said in a statement to the Washington Post.

(Lead image: Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks at a news conference on Monday. Kevin P. Coughlin/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)