By Lee Cooley, Scottsdale REALTORS®
On June 17, Arizona REALTORS® hosted its third-annual DEI event called Connect. Unify. Empower.
The plenary speaker was Laurie Benner, AVP of Housing & Community Development for the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA). Below are some highlights from her presentation.
BENNER:
I’ve heard (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Fair Housing) mentioned multiple times…as if they’re the same thing, and they’re not, they’re very distinct. My work is centered around racial disparities in home ownership, but the environment for housing and fair housing has shifted dramatically.
Increasing housing costs for renters, buyers and homeowners
Policy changes relating to tariffs, immigration and delay of national infrastructure projects will increase the cost of housing and generally make housing less accessible. There have been a lot of performative actions put forth, such as directing agencies to deliver emergency housing price relief without any administrative structure or budget to do so.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to eliminate some important tenant protections and rescind guidance intended to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive practices. It’s moving to a place of increased interest rates and riskier loans.
Rolling back established fair housing rights
The attack on basic civil rights under the guise of attacking DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility) mandates policies, programs and funding that is already undermining fair and affordable housing, and credit access.
FHFA directed ‘Fannie’ and ‘Freddie’ to discontinue efforts on Special Purpose Credit Programs. FHFA also rescinded requirements for these GSEs to create equitable housing finance plans (and) issued an order to end its “Repair All” strategy for REO inventory. This raises questions about whether Fannie Mae will repair homes in communities of color, or create blight and drive down prices in certain communities.
Rolling back rights for LGBTQ individuals
The Administration terminated LGBTQ people’s rights by limiting the definition of sex to two unchangeable sexes, male and female. HUD (Department of Housing & Urban Development) issued an order to halt any pending or future enforcement actions related to its 2016 Equal Access Rule, which ensured equal access to HUD-assisted or HUD-insured housing, without regard to actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status.
Rolling back established rights for immigrants
HUD and the Department of Homeland Security entered into a memorandum of understanding to collaborate and identify undocumented immigrants who are ineligible for federal housing assistance, and to take remedial actions including referral for immigration enforcement actions. HUD eliminated the non-permanent resident category from FHA’s (Federal Housing Administration’s) single family Title I and Title II programs. Although HUD’s press release tried to frame this as an action to prevent undocumented immigrant from accessing FHA mortgage benefits, FHA has never allowed undocumented folks to access these loans.
Ignoring the threat to local communities from climate change
HUD terminated the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program, which would’ve made HUD-assisted multifamily properties safer for natural disasters. HUD removed requirements that grantees perform fair housing assessments, and certify compliance with the Fair Housing Act and other federal civil rights laws.
State of Equitable Homeownership
This slide (below) is a snapshot from the opening data from a new NFHA report. It is estimated that white people will no longer be the majority in this country in another 20 years* — which gives rise to the need for Special Purpose Credit Programs, and for other race and ethnicity based programs and initiatives.
*Source: Population Estimates & Projections – Census.gov
If you go to our website, you can see an interactive map that shows how many and what types of fair housing complaints are happening on a state by state basis. It’s critical to note that over 75% of fair housing complaints are handled by non-profit organizations. Remember how we said that funding is being drastically cut for those organizations? This is where we need all of you to do your part on behalf of consumers.
Connect.
Join with housing agencies and housing counseling organizations in your area, and consider them real estate partners.
Unify.
Real estate professionals should represent the interests of the public in a fair way, as it pertains to fair housing. These laws were put in place to level the playing field for folks who experienced and still experience discrimination.
Empower.
That’s what Arizona REALTORS® is doing here today — empowering its members to stay informed, to have open discussions about these very real concerns that not only affect REALTOR® members but the communities you serve. Do the right thing for consumers and communities — not only to uphold the law, but the ethical tenets of our profession.
Related:
Federal Class Action Filed Against HUD for Unconstitutional Withholding of Fair Housing Funds – NFHA (6/24/2025)
Where You Live Matters – NFHA