A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Monday, ruling that it must take immediate steps to distribute fair housing grant funds the department had frozen.
The class action complaint against HUD and Secretary Scott Turner was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District Columbia last month by the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) and Tennessee Fair Housing Council.
Those housing advocacy groups alleged that HUD was “flouting its obligation to administer a fair housing grant program established and funded by Congress,” and that “abdication of duty will inflict devastating harm” on the nonprofit organizations that rely on the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) to provide housing services to underserved communities.
Created in 1987, FHIP is a competitive grant program designed to provide localized assistance to people who believe they have been victims of housing discrimination.
The 30-page memorandum opinion by District Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan noted the plaintiffs are concerned that HUD, by taking the “unprecedented step of halting its grantmaking activities,” will not meet its Sept. 30 deadline to award millions of dollars in congressionally appropriated FHIP grant funding.
According to the court filing, HUD maintains it still plans to meet that statutory deadline and argues the court lacks jurisdiction to hear the case until after that deadline has passed.
Sooknanan took issue with the question of jurisdiction, ruling that the plaintiffs “met their burden of showing irreparable harm,” since the appropriated funds would be unavailable once the deadline passes.
“If HUD is correct, it is free to ignore duly enacted and constitutional statutes directing it to award millions of dollars in grant funding by a certain date and this court is powerless to hear the dispute or take steps to ensure compliance with the statutes,” the district judge wrote. “That is not the law.”
HUD did not immediately respond to Scotsman Guide’s request for comment regarding Sooknanan’s memorandum opinion.
The court decision orders HUD to file a status report by Aug. 4 detailing how it plans to meet its statutory obligations to distribute FHIP grants for the current fiscal year. Additionally, HUD must file progress reports every seven days after that date.
The temporary restraining order remains in effect for 14 days unless both the plaintiffs and the defendants agree to extend it or agree to an expedited preliminary injunction briefing schedule.
Lisa Rice, president and CEO of NFHA, called the court’s decision “a crucial step in restoring the fair housing infrastructure that millions of people across the country rely on to challenge illegal housing and lending policies and practices and access justice.”
“The court recognized the real and immediate harm that HUD’s actions are causing to fair housing organizations and the communities that depend on them as the nation continues to grapple with a fair and affordable housing crisis,” Rice stated in a press release.
