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According to HUD records obtained by ProPublica, the Urban Development Agency is preparing to close seven major investigations and cases of alleged housing discrimination and segregation.
The famous incident involves allegations that state and local governments in the South and Midwest illegally discriminated against people of color by placing industrial plants and low-income housing in their neighborhoods and disengage similar facilities from their white neighborhoods, among other allegations. HUD pursues these cases. This has been pursuing new cases over seven years, ranging from the case where the agency issues formal discrimination crimes to new investigations. Three of them, HUD officials determined that the defendant violated the Fair Housing Act or the related Civil Rights Act. HUD staff, who are well versed in the four other investigations, believe that each of them has had civil rights violations, officials told Propublica. Under President Donald Trump, the agency is currently planning to end all of them abruptly, regardless of the findings of prior fraudulent investigations.
Four HUD officials said they could not recall the precedents of the plan, but they said it would mark an accelerated retreat of the administration from fair housing enforcement. “Previously, no administration had a proactive rewind of basic protections that helped people who were hurt in their communities,” one official said. “HUD enforces civil rights protection aims to protect the most vulnerable people in society.”
In the short term, shutting down the case would allow the local government in question to continue to abuse minority communities, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in fear of retaliation. In the long run, they said local politicians and developers can take action to get caught up in other places and entrench the separation without fear of federal punishment.
HUD spokesman Kasey Lovett declined to answer the question, saying, “HUD has not commented on active fair housing issues or individual staff.”
Three cases include accusations that local governments have clustered minority neighbouring polluting industrial facilities.
Some were about a prolonged conflict over Chicago’s scrap metal shredded plants. The facility has been operating for years in the predominantly white neighborhoods of Lincoln Park. However, residents were constantly complaining about smoke, debris, noise, and sometimes smoke emitted from plants. So the city allegedly put pressure on recycling companies to close old facilities and open new facilities in minority areas in southeastern Chicago. In 2022, HUD discovered that “relocating the facility to a southeast site will bring environmental benefits to 80% of whites and environmental harms to 83% of blacks and Hispanic neighborhoods.” The Chicago mayor called the allegations of discrimination “idiotious” and then resolved the case and agreed to reforms in 2023 (the new factory is not open; the owner sued the city).
In another case, primarily white Michigan townships allowed the asphalt factory to open in the suburbs, away from the population center. The township did not respond to Propublica’s investigation into the incident.
Yet another case included plans to build a desalination plant in a historically black neighborhood that was pushed by the city of Corpus Christi, Texas, in a push to build a desalination plant in a historically black neighborhood that is already bordered by oil refineries and other industrial facilities. (The incidence of cancer and birth defects in the area is disproportionately high, with average life expectancy being 15 years lower than elsewhere in the city.) The city denied the allegations. Construction of the plants is expected to end in 2028.
Three other cases include allegations of discrimination in local government land use decisions. In Memphis, Tennessee, the city and its utilities were allegedly forced to sell homes to poor black neighbours so they could build new facilities there. In Cincinnati, the city is said to have concentrated low-income housing in poor black neighborhoods, protecting it from white neighborhoods. And in Chicago, the city has rejected local politicians for development proposals in the district, with almost new, affordable housing in the white neighborhood. (Memphis, its utility, Chicago, challenged the allegations; Cincinnati declined to comment on them.)
The last incident is said to have deflected $1 billion in disaster mitigation money in 2017, which was distant from Houston and other communities of color. The agency is challenging the allegations.
All investigations and cases are currently scheduled to be closed. HUD is also planning to halt implementation of the settlement reached in the Chicago recycling incident, records show.
The move to lower the lawsuit is being overseen by recent Trump administration, Brian Hawkins. This is employment at HUD, where he serves as a senior advisor to a Fair Housing Office, two agency officials said. According to his LinkedIn profile, Hawkins has no residential law degree or previous experience. However, this month he distributed the list within a HUD of seven cases showing the agency’s plans. If you include Cincinnati, Corpus Christi, Flint and Houston, the agency says, “What reason do you not find above? [the] The list states that in two Chicago cases and cases involving Memphis, HUD will cancel a letter documenting the agency’s previous findings. Hawkins did not respond to a request for comment.
This list does not provide legal justification for removing cases. However, Hawkins also handed out notes showing why it was dropping, the reason behind the Chicago recycling case. The memo cites an executive order issued by Trump in April. Eliminate federal enforcement of “different impact liability.” Hawkins’ memo said “The department will not interpret the environmental impact as a violation of the Fair Housing Act, which has not been shown to be intentional discrimination.” Four HUD officials said such positions would be a tough departure from previous departmental policies and related case law.
The reversal of Chicago’s recycling incident continues with behind-the-scenes pressure on HUD from Senator Jim Banks. In June, Banks, a Republican from Indiana, wrote to Secretary Scott Turner and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin. Keeping in mind that the Chicago factory will supply metal to the Indiana steel factory, the bank asked Trump’s appointees to “take every action they think is necessary to improve the situation.” The bank did not respond to requests for comment.
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The case and others of the seven were under scrutiny from other federal and state agencies, including the EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice. The EPA refused to say whether it is still pursuing any of the cases. The DOJ did not respond to the same inquiry.
Case closures at HUD will be the latest in the broad rollback of fair housing enforcement under the Trump administration previously reported by ProPublica. That rollback continues in other ways as well. The agency recently launched plans to move more than half of its fair housing attorneys into unrelated roles in the Office of General Counsel, exacerbating the losses of previous staff since the beginning of the year, four HUD officials told Propublica.
Authorities fear the long-lasting impact of change. “The Fair Housing Act forms cities that shape where housing is built, where pollution occurs, where disaster money travels,” one source said. “Without them, we have another country.”
