In a storm of controversy and political outcry, the Trump administration is facing mounting allegations that it has systematically dismantled the federal government’s ability to enforce the Fair Housing Act—one of the nation’s most enduring civil rights laws. According to a wave of whistleblower complaints, internal documents, and reporting by major outlets such as The New York Times, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has, since January 2025, undergone drastic staff reductions, imposed gag orders, and restructured its enforcement office in ways that critics say have left vulnerable Americans without recourse against housing discrimination.
The facts are stark. HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, once staffed by 31 employees, has been whittled down to just 11, with only six lawyers expected to remain by early October. That’s a 65 percent reduction in less than a year—a scale of cuts far exceeding typical government efficiency measures, which usually hover around 10 percent. The office, which previously handled about 2,000 new complaints annually, now faces the daunting task of maintaining enforcement with a skeleton crew.
Career attorneys and civil rights advocates describe an environment of intimidation and obstruction. Whistleblowers say they’ve been subjected to gag orders, barred from speaking with complainants, and even reassigned without explanation. “If you’re not enforcing the Fair Housing Act, then it’s just another dead law,” said Palmer Heenan, a longtime fair housing lawyer who was recently told he would be reassigned. The sentiment is echoed by Paul Osadebe, another HUD attorney and organizer with the Federal Unionists Network: “We have people who are trying to destroy a baseline that people relied on.”
Much of the turmoil began in Trump’s first week back in office. Internal emails and memos reviewed by The New York Times reveal that HUD leadership issued a stop-work order, instructing fair housing employees to “cease and desist all work activities associated with environmental justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion.” Staff were told that fair housing was “not a priority of the administration,” and that less civil rights work would be performed going forward. In one particularly blunt memo, a Trump appointee dismissed decades of enforcement as “artificial, arbitrary and unnecessary.” Another directive instructed staff to remove archival documents that were “contrary to administration policy.”
The consequences have been immediate and severe. HUD typically issues about 35 charges of discrimination annually; since January 2025, only four have been brought. Settlements that once delivered $4 million to $8 million a year to victims of discrimination have plummeted to less than $200,000. Hundreds of pending cases have been frozen or dropped, including a notable Texas case where a homeowners’ association was accused of banning Black residents from using housing vouchers. That case, which had been referred to the Justice Department, was abruptly withdrawn by Trump appointees. “The sudden abandonment of the case was a pretty significant about-face,” said Rebecca Livengood, a lawyer involved in the litigation. “There’s every reason to think that in another administration, what were, at that point, sustained allegations of widespread racial discrimination would have been pursued.”
For survivors of domestic violence, the situation is especially dire. HUD is responsible for enforcing the housing protections of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which provides vital support for about 500 women annually who seek emergency transfers to safe housing. But with 75 percent of the VAWA team reassigned, only two lawyers remain with the expertise to handle these life-and-death cases. “These women are legitimately in mortal danger, and often without the government stepping in, nothing will be done,” Osadebe told The New York Times.
Staff describe a relentless campaign to sideline fair housing enforcement. Lawyers report being blocked from citing legal precedent, forbidden from advancing investigations without political approval, and told not to pursue cases involving appraisal bias, redlining, or exclusionary zoning—core issues that have defined the Fair Housing Act since 1968. In memos, John Gibbs, the Trump-appointed principal deputy assistant secretary for fair housing, wrote that such cases involved “tenuous theories of discrimination” that would no longer be prioritized. Those who objected sometimes found themselves out of a job. Erik Heins, a lawyer who warned that staff cuts would “cripple HUD’s ability to enforce its civil rights protections,” was dismissed six days after sending his warning.
The internal changes have stripped career officials of their authority to approve settlements or bring charges, centralizing power in the hands of a small cadre of political appointees. Jacy Gaige, HUD’s director of enforcement until her resignation in July, said, “With one email, the entire process was shut down. It essentially stopped the settlement process, which is time sensitive because complainants and respondents come to an agreement about what they want to do to resolve a case. And often that is driven by specific deadlines that are occurring in people’s lives.”
The backlash has been swift. On September 22, 2025, five HUD lawyers, including Osadebe and Heenan, filed a federal lawsuit alleging they had been “unlawfully targeted by HUD leadership and forced to leave” their positions “against their will.” Four other staff members have shared documents with Senator Elizabeth Warren supporting the allegations. Senator Warren, in a letter to HUD’s acting inspector general, called the situation evidence of “dire consequences” and urged an immediate investigation. “Right now, if you’re a mom protecting your kids from living with an abusive father, or if you’re getting denied a mortgage because of the color of your skin, you have civil rights protection under U.S. law,” Warren said in a video posted to X. “But the Trump administration has been systematically destroying these federal protections for renters and homeowners, and now new internal documents shared with my office from whistleblowers inside the Department of Housing and Urban Development show the extent of the Trump administration’s attack on civil rights and show how the administration appears to be ignoring the law.”
HUD officials, for their part, reject the characterization that enforcement has been gutted. “It is patently false to suggest the department is looking to blunt enforcement of the Fair Housing Act,” said Kasey Lovett, a HUD spokeswoman. She argued that the office “is using its authority to uphold the law, protect the vulnerable, and ensure meaningful access to housing.” Lovett also pointed out that HUD has handled more than 4,100 cases since Trump returned to office, a figure she claims is on par with previous years. However, staff and advocates argue that these numbers mask a collapse in meaningful enforcement, with many cases either frozen or resolved without legal action or meaningful settlements.
The stakes extend far beyond Washington. Fair housing cases have long addressed discrimination against families with children, religious minorities, disabled veterans, and survivors of domestic violence. With watchdogs sidelined and enforcement mechanisms hollowed out, advocates warn that landlords, lenders, and real estate brokers who violate civil rights laws may now do so with impunity. “We took an oath to defend the constitution,” Osadebe said. “These are the moments we took that oath for.”
As the legal and political battles continue, the fate of the Fair Housing Act—and the vulnerable Americans it is meant to protect—hangs in the balance.
