Overview
- Assistant Secretary Craig W. Trainor notified Mayor Michelle Wu that HUD has initiated a Fair Housing Act investigation into Boston’s housing policies.
- HUD cites program language including a goal for at least 65% of city-supported homeownership opportunities to go to BIPOC households, targeted outreach to Black and Latinx families, and race-based mapping and selection practices.
- HUD Secretary Scott Turner labeled the city’s approach a “social engineering project,” asserting the policies reflect DEI ideology rather than neutral need-based criteria.
- Investigators plan to seek documents within roughly 10 business days and could file administrative discrimination charges or refer the matter to the Department of Justice.
- Boston rejected the allegations as “unhinged attacks from Washington” and vowed to defend its fair- and affordable-housing work; multiple outlets report this is the Trump administration’s first HUD probe of a city’s housing practices under the Civil Rights Act.