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March 24, 2026

3 entries on this date.

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.

Montana Gov. Gianforte signed SB 437 redefining sex as a fixed binary across state law, overriding transgender and intersex recognition

On March 24, 2026, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 437, which defines "sex" as a binary — male or female — based on reproductive anatomy across more than 60 provisions of state law and treats "gender" as a synonym for that biological definition rather than gender identity. The law requires transgender, nonbinary, intersex, and Two Spirit people to be designated by their sex assigned at birth on state documents such as driver's and marriage licenses. Sponsored by Sen. Carl Glimm, the measure had passed the Senate in April 2025 but sat unsigned for nearly a year before Gianforte and House Speaker Brandon Ler signed it the same day.

University of North Texas staff dismantled student protest art installation and power-washed chalk messages at CVAD Gallery

On the morning of March 24, 2026, University of North Texas facilities staff, directed by university technician Jonathan Figueroa and acting on instructions from the university's lawyers, dismantled and discarded a student-organized outdoor protest art installation outside the CVAD Gallery in Denton, Texas. The memorial, curated by the student group NOISE, had stood for nearly a month in response to UNT's February 2026 removal of artist Victor "Marka27" Quiñonez's ICE-critical exhibition. Staff also power-washed sidewalk chalk messages from walkways where the university's own policy explicitly permits chalking.