Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) finalized its Disparate Impact Rule. In response, Lisa Cylar Barrett, Director of Policy at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), issued the following statement:
“The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s release of its final Disparate Impact Rule marks a devastating moment for this country. The changes formalized in this new rule dismantle decades of progress made toward eliminating housing and lending discrimination against Black people and other disenfranchised groups. The Rule’s heightened burden of proof makes it nearly impossible to succeed on discrimination claims.
“At a time when HUD should be working to strengthen tools to eradicate discrimination in housing and to promote fair access, it is instead rolling back civil rights protections and disabling a crucial means of ensuring equal treatment under the law – a particularly egregious notion amid a pandemic that is disproportionately impacting Black families’ housing and economic security. LDF remains committed to fighting housing and lending discrimination and will use every tool at our disposal to achieve equality for all.”
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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.
