On August 23, 2021, NAR submitted a comment on HUD’s proposed rule, “Reinstatement of HUD’s Discriminatory Effects Standard.” The proposed rule would reinstate HUD’s 2013 rule, titled “Implementation of the Fair Housing Act’s Discriminatory Effects Standard”, which recognized that the Fair Housing Act prohibits disparate impact discrimination.
NAR wrote that the Fair Housing Act’s prohibition on disparate impact discrimination—as defined by HUD in the 2013 rule, and, in 2015, by the Supreme Court in in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc.—must be enforced to achieve the Fair Housing Act’s goal of fair and diverse housing markets and communities.
NAR believes the 2013 Rule and the Inclusive Communities decision strike the proper balance between combatting discrimination and ensuring that real estate professionals and housing providers have appropriate latitude to make legitimate business decisions in the pursuit of nondiscriminatory objectives.