Almost three dozen national organizations representing fair housing and civil rights advocates are telling President Donald Trump’s administration to back off from reversing discrimination cases in Chicago and other areas of the country.
The letter, written by the National Fair Housing Alliance, the NAACP and more than 30 other organizations and government bodies, was sent to the Department of Housing and Urban Development after a report that the agency is considering dismissing or reversing findings from seven civil rights investigations.
Two of the cases are from Chicago: a finding that led to a binding agreement between HUD and the city over the proposed move of General Iron and another — yet to be settled case — involving the aldermanic prerogative veto power that allegedly allowed local politicians to keep affordable housing out of their wards.
In Chicago, Michigan, Texas and elsewhere, complaints filed with HUD over a half-dozen years alleged that discriminatory government practices violated federal fair housing or civil rights laws. Reversing course on any of the cases would have a dramatic impact on many communities and residents, the groups said in their letter sent late last week.
“Such a retreat not only harms millions of people and imperils vulnerable communities, it also contradicts settled law and HUD’s own regulations,” the groups wrote to Trump’s appointed HUD Secretary Scott Turner.
HUD officials did not respond to requests for comment.
ProPublica reported last month that government documents showed HUD was considering dismissing the cases. The department has not commented on the report. Representatives from the complainants told the Chicago Sun-Times that they had been given unofficial word that the cases were potentially being dismissed but have not received official notice.
The General Iron case arose after the city helped a scrap metal operator plan a move from its longtime home in mostly white and affluent Lincoln Park to a low-income area in a Latino neighborhood at East 116th Street near the Calumet River. Three community groups filed a complaint with HUD, which found that the city showed a pattern of locating heavy industry in low-income communities of color. That benefited white neighborhoods, including Lincoln Park, while other communities were negatively affected.
“The city’s actions with respect to General Iron continued a historical pattern and broader policy of directing heavy industry to Black and Hispanic neighborhoods,” a 19-page letter of findings from HUD found in July 2022.
After initially balking at the HUD findings, then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot signed an agreement with the agency on her last day in office in May 2023. Lightfoot also rejected a permit to allow the scrap metal operation to open on the Southeast Side, a decision that is still being contested in court.
Mayor Brandon Johnson pledged to abide by the HUD agreement, though no significant action has been taken in the two years since he took office.