The conclusions were bright. In one of the investigations of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, the US, the state agency Texas had allocated $ 1 billion to mitigate the consequences of the catastrophe from Houston and nearby colors after Hurricane Harvey flooded the region in 2017. In another HUD investigation, HUD found that the homeowners’ association by Dallas created the rules to expel the poor black people from its neighborhood.
The episodes made outrageous violations of the laws on civil rights, the residential agency officials thought it was enough to guarantee court cases against the alleged guilty. At least, it was the opinion during Joe Biden’s presidency. After Trump’s administration took over, the walk quietly took the steps that would probably kill both cases, according to three officials who are familiar with this issue.
These steps were extremely unusual. The current and former HUD officials have said they could not remember the housing agency, which, if -distracts the cases of the amount in which the agency found evidence of discrimination. This leaves many years, loud investigations in a state of suspended condition, unable to advance them, the current and former officials have stated. As a result, allegedly guilty of discrimination cannot face state fines, and alleged victims cannot receive compensation.
“I just think it’s shame for dogs,” said Doris Brown, a resident of Houston and co-founder of a society group, which together with a non-profit housing organization filed a complaint. Brown saw that 3 feet of water poured her home in a predominantly black neighborhood, which still shows the damage from the thunderstorm. “We could get some more money to help people who are still suffering,” she said.
On January 15, Khad sent the case of Houston to the Ministry of Justice, a necessary step to the federal lawsuit after the housing agency reveals evidence of discrimination. Less than a month later, on February 13, the agency canceled its referral without public explanation. Hood did the same with Dallas’s business soon.
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Development is distressed about the rollback of civil rights in the agency under President Donald Trump and the secretary of HUD Scott Turner, who comes from Texas. “The new administration systematically demonstrates the system of fulfillment and education of fair housing,” said Sarah Pott, a former HUD official and a lawyer in both cases Texas. “The message: The federal government no longer perceives housing discrimination.”
HUD Cassie Laut’s press -secretary disagreed, saying that there was a precedent of canceled referrals that were made to collect more facts and investigations. “We will look at politics, the Biden Administration, and these cases are no exception,” Lwut said in a statement. “HUD will support the law on fair housing, and the civil rights law as a department strongly and sincerely oppose housing discrimination.”
The Justice Department did not respond to a comment request.
Harvey’s case concerns a $ 4.3 billion part of a grant that HUD gave Texas after a hurricane filled low -lying coastal areas with at least $ 89 and caused more than $ 100 billion. The money was intended to finance the best drainage, flood management systems and other storm softening measures.
HUD has sent money to a state agency called Texas General Land, which awarded the first $ 1 billion to the communities affected by Harvey through a grant competition. But the state agency excluded Houston and many of the most open coastal areas for half that money, HUD reports. And for the second half, it created a prize criteria that benefited the countryside through more popular entrants such as Houston.
Bottom line: From this initial $ 1 billion – where almost half of all the houses were damaged by the hurricane – nothing received. Neither in the district of Harris, where Houston is located or other coastal areas with a large population of minority. Instead, the Texas Agency, according to HUD, rewarded a disproportionate amount of assistance to more rural white areas, which caused less damage to the hurricane. After the protest, the glus asked for a few days to send $ 750 million to the Harris district, but the walk found that the distribution still did not meet the needs of the county. And none of this money went directly to Houston.
HUD launched an investigation into the 2021 competition, ultimately reflecting that it was discriminated against races and national origin, thus violating the head of the VI of the 1964 civil rights law and possibly a law on fair housing.
“Glo deliberately developed and managed competition to distribute the means to soften the risk of thunderstorms and floods that rejected the money from urban black and Hispanic communities, which had the greatest risk of thunderstorms and floods in whiter, more rural areas,” the agency said. “Despite the realization that his course of action will lead to disparate damage to black and Hispanic people, Glo still deliberately and increasingly denied these communities critical financing the effects of the consequences.”
Glo consistently disputed these allegations. He claims that many people color took advantage of his assignment. The Texas Agency also claims that the evidence in this case was weak, citing the fact that in 2023 the Ministry of Justice returned the case to HUD. At the time, Doj said he wanted HUD to investigate further. The housing agency then spent more than a year, digging deeper into the facts and collecting additional evidence before making a brief referral in January.
Asked about the canceled referral, the GLO Bretati Ek said PROPUBLICA: “Liberal political appointed and fans spent years, twisting false stories without facts to build a case. Four years of sensationalized rhetoric without evidence long.”
In another case, HUD was involved in Providence Village, largely a white community north of Dallas. It is assumed that concern about the crimes and values of the property forced the Association of Owners Providence to adopt the rule in 2022, prohibiting real estate owners to rent Vouchers in Section 8, through which HUD subsidizes housing for the poor, the elderly and disabled. There were at least 157 households in the village of Providence, almost all of them black families. After the HOA action, some began to leave.
The rule is attracted National attentionLeading Texas Legislatory Authority to prohibit getting rid of section 8. In 2024, the HOA provided in Providens, which contained the rental restrictions that HUD found that it would have a similar effect, as the previous ban.
During the efforts of HOA, people fell into public social media groups with racist showcases about the owners of the vouchers, calling them “wild animals”, “ghetto with poverty that travel on the mentality, and” laziness called Leeching Tr@Sh. “
The disorder attracted a white nationalist group that protested twice near the village of Provident. “The Federal Government views safe white communities as problems,” Flaors said. “Section 8 for housing is a tool used to attract diversity into these neighborhoods.”
In January, HUD officially accused HOA, President of the Council, Property Management Company and one of the heads of property of violating the law on fair housing. Respondents challenged the accusation. HOA claims that its rules were designed to protect property values, support well -kept houses and solving crime problems. The property management company, FIRSTSERVice Residential Texas, said it was not responsible for HOA actions.
HOA and FIRSTSERVice did not respond to comment requests. Real estate dispatcher refused to comment. Mitch Little, lawyer of the President of the HOA Council, said: “Hud was not engaged in this case because there is nothing to deal with. The claims are unreasonable and unjustified.”
The affairs of the village of Providence and Houston have been going on for years. Everything it took was two short letters to cancel them. “The HUD General Lawyer’s Office has withdrawn the sending of the aforementioned case to the Ministry of Justice,” Prat wrote in this month. “We have no additional information at this time.” It was the whole message; No letter explained the arguments behind the decisions.
The cases may have been victims of a wider back on civil rights protection at the Ministry of Justice where Memory distributed in January The order of freezing cases of civil rights and investigations.
Development is the last sign that Trump administration can dramatically reduce housing discrimination. Last month, the agency canceled 78 grants with local fair housing, which caused some of them. HUD justified the cancellation, saying that each grant “no longer affects the agency’s program and priorities.” .
If the HUD is not engaged in business, the complainants could file their own lawsuits. But they can not soon forget the government about the face on the matter. “If Houston has a big flood that will almost certainly be, and people die, and the houses are destroyed, the people who have made the decision are largely responsible,” said Ben Hirsch, a member of one of the groups that brought Harvey’s complaint. “People will die from that.”
