Washington, D.C. – “NMHC and NAA strongly support federal fair housing laws, but HUD’s move to revert to a 2013 version of their disparate impact regulation creates unnecessary confusion, undermines the use of necessary business practices and imposes new obstacles to reducing housing costs and addressing our housing supply shortage.
“Importantly, it fails to address limitations the Supreme Court put on the use of disparate impact theory—which creates legal liability for seemingly neutral policies that may have a discriminatory effect on a protected class—in a 2015 ruling in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc.
“NMHC and NAA have documented the diverging disparate impact standards being used by HUD and various courts following the Inclusive Communities decision. Since the 2013 rule fails to address the current legal landscape, we strongly urge HUD to reconsider their plans and implement an updated rule that helps housing providers execute long-held business practices without running afoul of fair housing requirements.”
For more than 26 years, the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) and the National Apartment Association (NAA) have partnered on behalf of America's apartment industry. Drawing on the knowledge and policy expertise of staff in Washington, D.C., as well as the advocacy power of 141 NAA state and local affiliated associations, NAA and NMHC provide a single voice for developers, owners and operators of multifamily rental housing. One-third of all Americans rent their housing, and 38.9 million of them live in an apartment home.
