U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development administers federal housing assistance and enforces the Fair Housing Act. All of its entries fall in 2026 and record changes to eligibility and to the protected categories the department will enforce.
2026 Events (6)
Newsday reporting revealed HUD withdrew its own finding that Hempstead, NY housing authority discriminated against disabled, Black residents
Newsday reported on August 20, 2026, that HUD's director of compliance and disability rights, Andrew Hill, had notified the Town of Hempstead (NY) Housing Authority that HUD was withdrawing its own 2024 finding that the authority used an illegal point system to discriminate against disabled applicants and to "systematically" further racial segregation on its public-housing waitlist. The reversal came days after a Newsday investigation made the previously undisclosed finding public, without the housing authority requesting reversal and without HUD referring the matter to the Justice Department or withholding funding as it could have done instead.
HUD overhauled Fair Housing Initiatives Program grants, cutting 100+ nonprofit recipients to five including $25M to one law school
On July 2, 2026, HUD issued notices of funding opportunity restructuring the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP), the congressionally appropriated grant program that has funded local fair-housing enforcement nonprofits since 1987, cutting the pool of recipients from over 100 to roughly five -- including $25 million to a single law school -- while requiring grantees to draw at least half their funding from non-government sources and barring funding tied to "gender ideology" or "illegal immigration." HUD Secretary Scott Turner, who told the Senate in May 2026 the agency would "enforce the law as written, and nothing else," is named as defendant in litigation over the restructuring brought by the National Fair Housing Alliance and the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center.
HUD suspended the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, cutting off the region's access to up to $241 million in federal homelessness funding
On June 11, 2026, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced the immediate suspension of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), the lead agency for the region's homelessness response, citing an inspector general investigation and findings of fraud and mismanagement. The suspension placed at risk roughly $241 million in Continuum of Care funding for the Los Angeles region and barred LAHSA from applying for the next grant round, giving the agency 30 days to request a hearing.
HUD conditioned $1.3B in FY2026 homelessness grants on immigration-enforcement cooperation and anti-DEI/anti-trans compliance
On June 1, 2026, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development published its Fiscal Year 2026 Continuum of Care Notice of Funding Opportunity, redirecting roughly $1.3 billion of the program's nearly $4 billion away from "Housing First" permanent supportive housing toward transitional housing and "self-sufficiency" projects. The notice requires grantees to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, comply with executive orders eliminating DEI activities and recognizing only male/female gender identities, bars applicants operating safe-consumption sites, and rewards jurisdictions that cooperate with encampment clearing.
HUD proposed a rule rescinding gender-identity protections across nearly 50 housing regulations, restricting shelters to biological sex
On April 23, 2026, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced a proposed rule that would remove gender-identity and sexual-orientation protections from nearly 50 housing regulations and revise its 2016 Equal Access Rule. The proposal would define sex by biological classification across HUD programs and permit operators of single-sex facilities, including emergency shelters, to require "reasonable assurances and evidence" of a person's sex, effectively barring transgender people from shelters that match their gender identity. HUD Secretary Scott Turner framed the proposal as implementing President Trump's January 2025 executive order to restore "biological truth" to the federal government.
HUD launched a Fair Housing investigation into Washington's Covenant Homeownership Program for communities excluded by racially restrictive covenants
On March 24, 2026, HUD's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity launched a Fair Housing Act investigation into Washington State's Covenant Homeownership Program, a down-payment and closing-cost assistance initiative created by bipartisan 2023 state legislation to address documented racially restrictive housing covenants that had historically excluded Black, Hispanic, Native American, Pacific Islander, and Indigenous homebuyers. HUD Secretary Scott Turner announced the investigation stating "DEI is dead at HUD," asserting that a preliminary review "strongly suggests" the program violates the Fair Housing Act; a final determination remained pending. A federal judge had denied a legal challenge to the program in February 2026, finding that Washington had a compelling interest in addressing racial disparities in homeownership. Washington became the third state or local government targeted by HUD for such investigations, following prior probes into Minneapolis and Boston housing programs.