The Department of Housing and Urban Development is investigating the city of Boston for alleged housing discrimination, accusing officials of pushing “racial equity into every layer of operations in City government” and favoring Black and Latino residents in some programs.
In a letter sent Thursday to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, HUD said the city seeks to “implement discriminatory housing policies in violation of the Fair Housing Act.” The department said the city’s programs give Black and Latino families priority in buying homes and encourage banks and mortgage lenders to increase their work with communities of color. HUD also said Boston “has been very public about its intention to discriminate on the basis of race, while essentially claiming that social justice and racial equity concerns purify its intentions.”
“We believe the City of Boston has engaged in a social engineering project that intentionally advances discriminatory housing policies driven by an ideological commitment to DEI rather than merit or need,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a statement, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. “HUD is committed to protecting every American’s civil rights and will thoroughly investigate the City’s stated goal of ‘integrating racial equity into every layer of city government.’ This warped mentality will be fully exposed, and Boston will come into full compliance with federal antidiscrimination law.”
The Boston mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The move marks an escalation in the Trump administration’s overhaul of fair housing enforcement, which prohibit discrimination in public and private housing. Under the Fair Housing Act and other civil rights codes, the government and private groups can investigate complaints of segregation, sexual harassment, prejudice against people with disabilities or other kinds of unequal treatment. It also echoes other Trump administration actions to undo racial equity programs and reorient civil rights offices toward probing diversity efforts.
After the investigation, HUD’s office of fair housing and equal opportunity may file a complaint against the city for discrimination or refer the matter to Justice Department, according to the letter. HUD said that in the next 10 days, it will send requests for information to city officials.
Over Wu’s first three years as mayor, her administration has created more affordable housing and helped more families become homeowners than any preceding 3-year period since 1998, according to the city’s website. More than 17,000 housing units have been built or started construction, including a third that are income-restricted, and another 12,000 units were added to the pipeline, the site says.
The Boston Housing Strategy 2025 — which involves a range of local players — also works to help the housing market “through new mixed-income and affordable housing development, reduce racial disparities through homeownership and development opportunities for [Black, Indigenous, and People of Color]-led organizations, and move forward Boston’s Green New Deal through transit-oriented development and green retrofits of existing housing,” according to its site.
Nationwide, fair housing groups, longtime HUD staffers and tenants’ advocates have grown increasingly worried that the government is eroding civil rights laws and enforcement of the Fair Housing Act. They argue such moves will make it harder for some of the most vulnerable populations to stay in their homes or find new places to live. Fair housing experts point to a significant drop in the number of HUD’s fair housing attorneys, the withdrawal of fair housing guidance, the slow resolution of pending cases and a growing sense among local groups that they can no longer look to HUD for help.
In September, HUD separately requested that Boston provide all communications and documents that talk about race or national origin when it comes to HUD grants or grant recipients. HUD also asked for information on all grants awarded since President Donald Trump was inaugurated that consider race or national origin in funding decisions. HUD specifically called out programs like the city’s Consolidated Plan, Action Plan and the Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation and Reports.
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