16-2 Attacks on Fair Housing, LGBTQ Protections, and Keeping Families Together
Sep 25, 2025
The Trump Administration has continued attempts to dismantle fair housing and civil rights laws, including attempts to scapegoat LGBTQ people and immigrant communities, and erode longstanding civil rights and fair housing laws.
Changes to the Equal Access Rule (EAR) have arrived at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), and advocates are preparing for their release and comment period. The EAR ensures equal access to housing programs for individuals based on their gender identity, marital status, and sexual orientation without intrusive questioning. LGBTQ+ advocates released an EAR Story Collection Portal to elevate stories about EAR protection. If you or someone you know has faced barriers to accessing shelter and housing resources based on gender identity, sexual orientation, or marital status or has benefited from policies that protect equal access to housing services, respond to the portal questionnaire here.
The Administration has taken unprecedented steps to instill fear in immigrant communities and has taken steps to introduce the “mixed-status” rule at OMB, which would separate families with mixed immigration statuses in HUD-assisted housing. Though the rule is not public, advocates are gearing up to relaunch the Keep Families Together campaign, which coordinated over 30,000 comments on the same rule in 2019. Amid uncertainty about the future of mixed-status households enrolled in HUD housing programs, the National Housing Law Project (NHLP) released a resource with guidance for HUD tenants about sharing immigration status information with HUD housing providers.
Lastly, the Administration has taken steps to dismantle the disparate impact standard of the “Fair Housing Act of 1968” by sending a final rule to OMB. The disparate impact standard of the “Fair Housing Act” prohibits practices that disparately impact members of protected classes, even without explicitly discriminatory intent, and it remains a key tool for combating harmful housing policies. The content of the rule is not yet released, but NLIHC is prepared to fight back alongside fair housing and civil rights leaders when we learn more.