[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3086 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3086
To restore the fair housing mission of the Department of Housing and
Urban Development, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 29, 2025
Ms. Waters introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on
Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To restore the fair housing mission of the Department of Housing and
Urban Development, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Restoring Fair Housing Protections
Eliminated by Trump Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The current Administration has taken several steps that
seriously undermine the American people's fair housing
protections.
(2) On February 10, 2025, the Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development announced that he would halt all current and
future enforcement of the Departments's Equal Access Rule that
protect persons who are experiencing homelessness from
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender
identity while residing in shelters and while receiving
homeless services.
(3) On February 11, 2025, Secretary Scott Turner stated in
an interview regarding the halting of Equal Access Rule
enforcement that, ``We want to uphold, first, what the bible
says--that there's male and female'' and also stated that
Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Office of
Management and Budget ``are going after AFFH''.
(4) On February 12, 2025, the Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development submitted an interim final rule about
affirmatively furthering fair housing to the Office of
Management and Budget for review.
(5) On February 12, 2025, the Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development submitted a proposed Equal Access Rule to the
Office of Management and Budget for review.
(6) On February 14, 2025, Bloomberg Law reported that the
Trump Administration plans to eliminate 50 percent of the staff
at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
(7) On February 26, 2025, ProPublica reported that the
United States DOGE Service (commonly referred to as the
``Department of Government Efficiency'' or ``DOGE'') was given
access to confidential fair housing discrimination complaints.
(8) On February 26, 2025, the Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development announced the rescission of the rule to
affirmatively further fair housing and announced the Department
will now rely on localities to self-certify that they comply
with the law, even if the locality has not shown to the
Department that it has affirmatively furthered fair housing,
through an interim final rule issued on March 3, 2025, entitled
``Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Revisions''.
(9) On February 25, 2025, the Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development, at the direction of the United States DOGE
Service (commonly referred to as the ``Department of Government
Efficiency'' or ``DOGE''), canceled 78 Fair Housing Initiatives
Program grants that private nonprofit fair housing
organizations use to investigate and root out illegal housing
discrimination.
(10) On March 13, 2025, Fair Housing Initiatives Program
grantees filed a class action lawsuit in a United States
District Court.
(11) On March 25, 2025, the United States District Court in
the District of Massachusetts granted a temporary restraining
order directing the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
to reinstate the 78 Fair Housing Initiatives Program grants.
SEC. 3. MISSION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT.
Section 2 of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Act
(42 U.S.C. 3531) is amended--
(1) in the section heading, by inserting ``; mission of
department'' after ``purpose'';
(2) by inserting ``(a) Purpose.--'' after ``Sec. 2.''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
``(b) Mission of Department.--The mission of the Department of
Housing and Urban Development shall be to create strong, sustainable,
inclusive communities and quality affordable homes for all. The
Department shall work to strengthen the housing market to bolster the
economy and protect consumers, meet the need for quality affordable
rental homes, utilize housing as a platform for improving quality of
life, build inclusive and sustainable communities free from
discrimination, and transform the way the Department does business.''.
SEC. 4. IMPLEMENTATION OF AFFIRMATIVELY FURTHERING FAIR HOUSING
REGULATION.
The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development shall, not later
than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this section--
(1) repeal the interim final rule issued on March 3, 2025,
entitled ``Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Revisions'';
and
(2) issue a rule that defines ``affirmatively further fair
housing'' as taking meaningful actions, in addition to
combating discrimination, that overcome patterns of segregation
and foster inclusive communities free from barriers that
restrict access to opportunity based on protected
characteristics. Specifically, affirmatively furthering fair
housing means taking meaningful actions that, taken together,
address significant disparities in housing needs and in access
to opportunity, replacing segregated living patterns with truly
integrated and balanced living patterns, transforming racially
or ethnically concentrated areas of poverty into areas of
opportunity, and fostering and maintaining compliance with
civil rights and fair housing laws. The duty to affirmatively
further fair housing extends to all of a program participant's
activities and programs relating to housing and urban
development.
SEC. 5. REVIEW OF ONLINE COMPLAINTS OF VIOLATIONS OF FAIR HOUSING ACT.
(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
shall submit to the Congress a report which contains--
(1) a review of the complaints filed with the Secretary
under section 810 of the Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3610)
during the 5 year period preceding the date of the enactment of
this Act that alleged a discriminatory housing practice
involving a digital platform or artificial intelligence,
including any artificial intelligence used for--
(A) advertisement delivery and targeting;
(B) tenant screening;
(C) automated mortgage underwriting;
(D) dynamic pricing of real estate; and
(E) real estate listings; and
(2) an analysis of trends and risks related to--
(A) discrimination that occurs in connection with
the use of digital platforms to rent or purchase
housing;
(B) the sufficiency of the Fair Housing Act to
remedy discrimination during the rental or purchase of
housing through digital platforms; and
(C) steps the Secretary plans to take to address
such discrimination.
(b) Artificial Intelligence Defined.--In this section, term
``artificial intelligence'' has the meaning given the term in section
238(g) of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal Year 2019 (Public Law 115-232).
SEC. 6. PUBLICLY AVAILABLE DATABASE FOR FAIR HOUSING COMPLAINTS.
(a) In General.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
shall develop, and update on a quarterly basis, a database that is
publicly available on a website of the Department of Housing and Urban
Development, which includes, subject to applicable confidentiality
constraints, the following:
(1) The total number of complaints alleging violations of
the Fair Housing Act that were received by the Secretary of
Housing and Urban Development, disaggregated with respect to
both number and percentage, by each protected class established
under such Act.
(2) The number and percentage of the total number of
complaints that allege violations of the Violence Against Women
Act.
(3) The number and percentage of the total number of
complaints referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2) that--
(A) were made by persons experiencing homelessness;
(B) were made by tenants; and
(C) were made by persons who have applied for
covered housing, disaggregated by each specific type of
covered housing for which such person applied.
(4) For each State, the number and percentage of the total
number of complaints referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2) that
were made by residents of such State.
(5) The number and percentage of the total number
complaints referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2) that alleged
that the complainant was retaliated against after reporting the
alleged violation and, of such number, the number and
percentage that alleged that the complainant was evicted for
any retaliatory reason.
(6) The status of the complaints referred to in paragraphs
(1) and (2), including a detailed description of the
resolutions and remedies provided and, for complaints that were
administratively closed, of the reasons for such closures.
(7) The number and percentage of the total number of
complaints referred to in paragraph (1) that were received by--
(A) State agencies assisted under the Fair Housing
Assistance Program authorized under section 810 of the
Fair Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 3610); and
(B) local agencies assisted under the Fair Housing
Initiatives Program authorized under section 817 of
such Act (42 U.S.C. 3616).
(8) The number and percentage of the total number of
complaints referred to in paragraph (1) that ended in a
reasonable cause charge by the Secretary of Housing and Urban
Development or were referred to the Attorney General by the
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
(9) The number and percentage of the total number of
complaints referred to in paragraph (1) received by the
Attorney General that were not referred to the Attorney General
by the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
(b) Covered Housing.--In this section, the term ``covered
housing''--
(1) with respect to a complaint alleging a violation of the
Fair Housing Act, means--
(A) housing assisted under the program for
supportive housing for the elderly under section 202 of
the Housing Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q), including
the direct loans program under such section 202 as in
effect before the enactment of the Cranston-Gonzalez
National Affordable Housing Act (Public Law 101-625;
November 28, 1990);
(B) housing assisted under the program for
supportive housing for persons with disabilities under
section 811 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National
Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 8013);
(C) housing assisted under the program for housing
opportunities for people with AIDS/HIV under subtitle D
of title VIII of the Cranston-Gonzalez National
Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12901 et seq.);
(D) housing assisted under any of the programs
under subtitles B through D of title IV of the
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11371
et seq.);
(E) housing assisted under the HOME Investments
Partnerships program under subtitle A of title II of
the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act
(42 U.S.C. 12741 et seq.);
(F) housing assisted under the rent supplement
program under section 101 of the Housing and Urban
Development Act of 1965 (12 U.S.C. 1701s);
(G) housing financed by a loan or mortgage that is
insured under section 203 of the National Housing Act
(12 U.S.C. 1709);
(H) housing financed by a loan or mortgage that
is--
(i) secured by a first or subordinate lien
on a residential real property, including any
such secured loan, the proceeds of which are
used to prepay or pay off an existing loan
secured by the same property; and
(ii) purchased or securitized by the
Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation or the
Federal National Mortgage Association;
(I) housing insured, assisted, or held by the
Secretary or a State or State agency under the
multifamily rental assistance program under section 236
of the National Housing Act (12 U.S.C. 1715z-1);
(J) public housing assisted under title I of the
United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et
seq.);
(K) a dwelling unit assisted under the Housing
Choice Voucher program for rental assistance under
section 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937
(42 U.S.C. 1437f(o));
(L) housing assisted with project-based rental
assistance provided under section 8 of the United
States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f);
(M) housing assisted with funds from the Housing
Trust Fund as established under section 1338 of the
Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and
Soundness Act of 1992 (12 U.S.C. 4568);
(N) housing assisted under any of the rural housing
assistance programs under section 514, 515, 516, 533,
538, or 542 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1484,
1485, 1486, 1490m, 1490p-2, 1490r);
(O) any housing project for which equity is
provided through any low-income housing tax credit
pursuant to section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 (26 U.S.C. 42);
(P) housing assisted under the Comprehensive
Service Programs for Homeless Veterans program under
subchapter II of chapter 20 of title 38, United States
Code (38 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.);
(Q) housing and facilities assisted under the grant
program for homeless veterans with special needs under
section 2061 of title 38, United States Code;
(R) permanent housing for which assistance is
provided under the program for financial assistance for
supportive services for very low-income veteran
families in permanent housing under section 2044 of
title 38, United States Code;
(S) any other housing assisted by any housing
program administered by the Secretary of Veterans
Affairs;
(T) housing assisted by the Community Development
Financial Institutions Fund established under the
Community Development Banking and Financial
Institutions Act of 1994 (12 U.S.C. 4701 et seq.);
(U) housing assisted under the Neighborhood
Reinvestment Corporation Act (42 U.S.C. 8101 et seq.);
(V) housing assisted under title I of the Housing
and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 U.S.C. 5301
et seq.), including housing assisted with amounts
provided during a disaster as described in such Act;
(W) transitional or short-term housing assisted
under the grant program under chapter 11 of subtitle B
of Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of
1994;
(X) housing assisted under such other Federal
housing programs as identified for the purposes of this
section; and
(Y) Federally subsidized dwelling units that
provide affordable housing to low-income persons by
means of restricted rents or rental assistance, as
identified for the purposes of this section; and
(2) with respect to a complaint alleging a violation of the
Violence Against Women Act, means a covered housing program (as
that term is defined in section 41411 of such Act (34 U.S.C.
12491)).
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