A federal judge in Massachusetts issued a temporary restraining order Wednesday that reinstates fair housing grants that had been canceled by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Feb. 27.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns follows a class action lawsuit filed March 13 by four member organizations of the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA). The civil complaint stated that HUD had terminated 78 Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) grants that impacted 66 fair housing groups in 33 states.

“The summary cancelation of their FHIP grants has caused an immediate and devasting impact,” the plaintiffs stated in the complaint. “They have had to shutter programs, terminate services, lay off staff members and shrink their core activities. Some face the likelihood of near-term closure.”

According to the court filing, the grant cancelations by HUD came “at the direction of” the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Elon Musk-led unit responsible for wide-ranging federal budget cuts.

The HUD letters received by the fair housing groups said the grants were being terminated because the funding “no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities,” according to the lawsuit.

A joint statement released March 13 by the NFHA and Relman Colfax, the civil rights law firm representing the plaintiffs, argued that the grant cancelations were unlawful because the grants had been authorized by Congress. It added that “DOGE lacks the authority to direct HUD to cancel grants, and HUD cannot follow such directives.”

Attorneys for the government argued in a court filing last week that HUD had the discretion to cancel the funding, according to a report from MassLive.

In ruling for the plaintiffs, the district judge stated that “the court sees no meaningful way to distinguish this case from California v. U.S. Department of Education.” That case also involved the reinstatement of state grants by a district judge which had been canceled by the Education Department due to alleged conflicts with department priorities.

The temporary injunction issued by Judge Stearns will remain in effect for 14 days. As of Thursday afternoon, the court docket does not list a subsequent hearing on the matter.