Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined a coalition of 21 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, supporting fair housing organizations in their appeal of a ruling that lifted a temporary restraining order blocking the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from cancelling these organizations’ grant funding.
Congress established the Fair Housing Initiative Program (FHIP) to provide funding to private, nonprofit housing organizations that work to prevent and eliminate discriminatory housing practices and enforce state and federal fair housing laws. According to the brief, in February 2025, HUD suddenly cancelled 78 preexisting FHIP grants to housing organizations engaged in fair-housing work in 33 states. The cancellations were effective immediately and with no prior warning, despite HUD being statutorily required to provide such funding. "HUD’s shocking and unacceptable decision to abruptly cancel these grants gives families fewer places to turn if they are victims of housing discrimination, jeopardizing their ability to build a home for themselves or keep a roof over their heads,” said Attorney General Brown.
“Our Office will do whatever it can to protect this essential funding that helps enforce fair housing laws and combats housing segregation, protecting the safety and security of vulnerable Marylanders." A group of 66 nonprofit fair housing groups subsequently sued HUD in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts, and on March 26, the Court granted a temporary restraining order reinstating the organizations’ grant funding. A week later, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an interim ruling in a separate grant funding case, and HUD sought to dissolve the District Court’s temporary restraining order based on that interim ruling. On April 14, the District Court granted HUD’s motion. In their brief, the attorneys general argue that the temporary restraining order should be reinstated because the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their lawsuit, and if allowed to take effect, HUD’s sudden revocation of funding will upend the important work of housing organizations, resulting in more housing discrimination being left undetected and unaddressed, which harms their states and residents. For example, Three Maryland organizations receive FHIP grants, including Baltimore Neighborhoods United, Consumer Credit Counseling of Maryland, and the Baltimore City Office of Equity and Civil Rights. In addition, the Equal Rights Center and the National Fair Housing Alliance receive FHIP grants and, while located in the District of Columbia, do work in Maryland. Joining Attorney General Brown in submitting this brief, which was led by the attorneys general of Massachusetts, New York, and California, were the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawai‛i, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.
Original source can be found here.