NH Business Review
Senate-backed bill would lead to federal funding for discrimination investigations
May 5, 2021
While many Granite State homebuyers and renters are being priced out of the market, some face a more surreptitious barrier to housing: discrimination.
In March, the New Hampshire Senate voted unanimously to revise the state Fair Housing Law through Senate Bill 126. The bill is intended to win federal funding for housing discrimination investigations. However, SB 126 could meet resistance in the House, where some legislators look suspiciously on federal government ties.
Proposal to revise housing laws
SB 126 is a combination of three different proposals related to housing. First, the bill revises the circumstances under which a tenant can stop eviction by paying overdue rent. Second, the bill enables rental assistance prior to an eviction notice. Lastly, the bill rewrites New Hampshire’s Fair Housing Law.
HUD reverses Trump policy, bans gender identity housing bias
WASHINGTON (AP) The Department of Housing and Urban Development will begin enforcing a ban on housing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The move is a major reversal of the position under the Trump administration’s housing secretary, Ben Carson.
“Every person should be able to secure a roof over their head free from discrimination, and the action we are taking today will move us closer to that goal,” said Jeanine M. Worden, acting assistant secretary of Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, in a statement.
The policy change announced Thursday acts off an interpretation of the Fair Housing Act and the Supreme Court’s ruling last summer that gender identity and sexual orientation are protected by the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
A women-focused recovery, Nikki Haley’s choice and a farewell
RULING THE WEEK
Hi, everyone! I have some news: Today will be my last day as the writer of the Women Rule newsletter. I’ve been so honored to helm the newsletter over the past nearly two years as we reinvented it and nearly doubled our reach.
Working on this project has changed the way I view the world and not just because I know it’s
“don’t marry your glass ceiling” in the back of my mind everytime I go on a date. I now see more clearly how much gender bias permeates our lives.
Biden administration will investigate housing discrimination against LGBTQ people
HUD promises various actions to combat anti-LGBTQ discrimination in housing.
68SHARES
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that it would take steps to ban housing discrimination against LGBTQ people.
The department issued a memorandum stating that HUD interprets the Fair Housing Act as barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity as an illegal form of sex-based discrimination, and thus, directs all HUD offices and recipients of HUD funds to embrace that interpretation.
The move comes as the agency seeks to comply with President Joe Biden’s executive order directing the federal government to adhere to the legal principles outlined in a Supreme Court decision on LGBTQ workplace discrimination last year.