First Circuit Blocks Trump Administration Overhaul of HUD Fair Housing Grant Program
Boston — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on October 19 largely denied a request by the federal government and upheld an August order by U.S. District Judge Myong Joun blocking the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from carrying out its planned overhaul of the Fair Housing Initiatives Program. According to Reuters, the program, created in 1987, has long made small grants to more than 100 nonprofit organizations nationwide to support fair-housing enforcement and education.
Under HUD's plan, $46 million of the $56 million Congress appropriated for the program would have been awarded in just five large grants, including $25 million to a single law school. Historically, the program has made more than 100 grants of between $75,000 and $425,000 each, spread across more than 100 nonprofits. The Massachusetts Fair Housing Center and other plaintiffs sued to stop the change.
A three-judge First Circuit panel said the government had not shown that Judge Joun exceeded his authority in issuing the injunction, and left it in place. The panel lifted only one element of the order, a requirement concerning a fiscal year 2025 funding notice, calling it moot because Congress extended the relevant funding deadline to September 30, 2027. The case is Massachusetts Fair Housing Center v. HUD, First Circuit No. 26-2084.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：住房与城市发展部（HUD）总部 Robert C. Weaver 联邦大楼。Ajay Suresh 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons 发布。
