fair housing act

The Trump administration is moving to weaken the Fair Housing Act, according to housing advocates. They say a proposed rule would make it harder to bring lawsuits alleging racial discrimination.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development says Facebook allowed advertisers to use their platform to unlawfully discriminate by restricting which users can see housing ads.

In a formal complaint, HUD says Facebook allows landlords and home sellers to use targeted ads to discriminate based upon the recipient's race, religion, sex, familial status and national origin.

The HUD secretary is moving to overhaul an Obama-era rule intended to strengthen the 1968 Fair Housing Act and combat housing segregation. It "impeded development ... of affordable housing," he says.

The federal lawsuit stems from the department's decision to postpone a requirement that recipients of funding study how inclusive their communities are and plan how to overcome historic segregation.

The city of Miami can sue Wells Fargo and Bank of America for damages caused by allegedly discriminatory and predatory lending practices, the Supreme Court says.

Miami claims bank foreclosures in 2008 targeted black and Latino homeowners. When they defaulted, property values fell, which meant a drop in taxes. The city wants the right to sue the banks.