Today, December 8, Join NFHA Letter that Supports Funding for Fair Housing Programs

By Kayla Blackwell, NLIHC Senior Housing Policy Analyst and Sarita Kelkar, NLIHC Policy Intern

NLIHC joined the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) letter encouraging the Senate Appropriations Committee to maintain funding for fair housing programs, including the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) in the FY26 “Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.” The Senate has signaled bipartisan approval of fair housing in FY26 bills released earlier this year, demonstrating a commitment to restore fair housing funding at a time when the Trump administration’s proposed FY26 budget cuts threaten federal investments in affordable housing programs. The letter emphasizes how critical it is to support local efforts that facilitate fair housing—naming how FHIP funds on-the-ground work by “addressing growing systemic discrimination in home appraisals; tackling bias in artificial intelligence systems; and rooting out other emerging forms of housing discrimination that limit economic opportunity.” The deadline to sign onto this letter was Monday, December 8, 5:00 pm ET. 

The FHIP was established in the Housing and Community Development Act of 1987 under President Ronald Reagan, supporting private nonprofit fair housing organizations across the country in their efforts to be a local resource and enforce the “Fair Housing Act of 1968.” Through investigating sources of discrimination in their local housing markets, ranging from lending practices to exclusionary zoning to appraisal bias, FHIP funds help provide direct assistance to disabled veterans, families with children, seniors, people with disabilities, and more. With these mechanisms of local enforcement and education & outreach, directing funding away from FHIP poses a sure danger to securing fair housing and lowering homelessness—a process our current administration is attempting through proposed cuts to HUD’s budget. These proposed cuts target fair housing programs, even calling for the elimination of the FHIP (see Memo, 7/21).  

The letter reiterates how: 

• FHIP funding is the only federal resource for local, nonprofit, private enforcement and fair housing services with a long history of bipartisan support.
• FHIP-funded organizations processed 74.12% of all housing discrimination complaints filed in 2024, where complaints of housing discrimination were among the highest in 20 years—operating as a critical local resource that protects housing opportunity.
• Local fair housing organizations provide a cost-efficient resolution to complaints, where if FHIP is eliminated, direct assistance and local advocacy will not be provided to people who are facing housing discrimination: further exacerbating the nation’s ongoing fair and affordable housing crisis and the likelihood of more people becoming homeless.  

Maintaining FHIP funds is a key step to ensuring everyday people secure the housing they need free of discrimination, especially in the nation’s ongoing homelessness crisis. 

Learn more about fair housing programs in NLIHC’s 2025 Advocates’ Guide, Chapter 8: “Fair Housing Programs.”  

Learn more about threats to federal affordable housing programs with NLIHC’s advocacy toolkit, “Opposing Cuts to Federal Investments in Affordable Housing.”