Today, the United States Senate voted to confirm Rep. Marcia Fudge as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), issued the following statement regarding this confirmation vote:
“We congratulate Congresswoman Fudge on today’s vote confirming her as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. LDF welcomes this change in HUD leadership, and we look forward to working with Secretary Fudge to repair the significant damage done to critical fair housing rules and practices over the past four years. Secretary Fudge has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to civil rights and affirmed her intention to strengthen fair housing protections and promote homeownership.
“Indeed, we hope that Secretary Fudge will take immediate steps to reinstate the disparate impact rule enacted by HUD in 2013 and the 2015 version of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule — both of which were rescinded by the previous administration. The rollback of these rules undid years of fair housing progress, disabling civil rights protections that served as critical mechanisms for carrying out the mandate of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and ensuring equal treatment under the law.
“Under Secretary Fudge’s leadership, HUD must also urgently address the homeownership crisis in this country. The current Black homeownership rate is staggeringly low – nearly the same as it was when the FHA first became law in the 1960s – and has suffered even further from the foreclosure crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. HUD must tackle this egregious reality head on and take comprehensive action to ensure that Black people have equal access to quality, affordable housing in well-resourced communities, now and for generations to come.
“As communities of color continue to endure housing insecurity — rooted in structural inequalities stemming from discrimination and segregation, and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic — HUD must take up the mantle of leadership to rectify these injustices. We are confident that Secretary Fudge will undertake this critical work with the policy nuance, innovation, and urgency it deserves.”
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Founded in 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the nation’s first civil and human rights law organization. LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Follow LDF on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.