By NLIHC Policy Team
HUD officially withdrew eight Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) guidance documents, published in a Federal Register notice on April 6. While the withdrawal took effect in September 2025, the notice emphasizes the documents’ removal from active use and HUD efforts to update trainings and handbooks referencing the guidance, stating that the content of the eight documents fails to either 1) be “statutorily prescribed,” 2) “consistent with the relevant statue or regulation,” or 3) “decreases compliance burdens”. These guidance documents were, albeit, non-binding, but acted as benchmarks for housing providers and advocates to use.
The eight withdrawn guidance documents include:
Guidance on Application of the Fair Housing Act to the Advertising of Housing, Credit, and Other Real Estate-Related Transactions through Digital Platforms
FHEO 2020-01: Assessing a Person's Request to Have an Animal as a Reasonable Accommodation Under the Fair Housing Act
FHEO Memorandum on Source of Income Testing Activities under the Fair Housing Assistance Program
FHEO Notice 2013-01: Service Animals and Assistance Animals for People with Disabilities in Housing and HUD-funded Programs
FHEO Statement on the Fair Housing Act and Special Purpose Credit Programs
Final Guidance to Federal Financial Assistance Recipients Regarding Title VI Prohibition Against National Origin Discrimination Affecting Limited English Proficient Persons
Implementation of Executive Order 13988 on the Enforcement of the Fair Housing Act
Implementation of OGC Guidance on Application of Fair Housing Act Standards to the Use of Criminal Records
In September 2025, HUD issued a memo, “Notice of the Withdrawal of FHEO Guidance Documents,” outlining much of the same reasoning as the notice. Both draw from Executive Orders 14192 and 14219, noting that “equal treatment under the law is a bedrock principle of the United States that guarantees equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome.” The withdrawal is situated within a larger movement to dismantle fair housing and civil rights protections (see Memo, 9/29/2025). The withdrawn guidance documents were not arbitrarily issued, and have provided meaningful guidance for housing providers, tenants, and advocates to exercise their civil and fair housing rights.
The withdrawal of this guidance creates heightened uncertainty. For example, HUD, in the April 6 notice, encourages “parties whose prior conduct may have been violative of the Fair Housing Act, while in conformance with the previous guidance and during the period in which that guidance was in effect, to take immediate actions to address any such potential violation.”
Read the notice here.
See the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials’ overview for more information on the withdrawn guidance.