Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, released the following statement on President Biden’s Memorandum on Redressing Our Nation’s and the Federal Government’s History of Discriminatory Housing Practices and Policies.

“I am pleased that President Biden has issued this important executive action to reassert the federal government’s commitment to fair housing and to begin to reverse the Trump Administration’s harmful actions to erode fair housing. The Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968, and amended in 1988, to protect individuals and families from housing discrimination by making it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. The Trump Administration not only worked to actively dismantle regulations to implement the Fair Housing Act, such as the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) and Disparate Impact rules, but also used rhetoric that was frighteningly similar to that used by the segregationists who opposed the passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968 and who fought to maintain the segregation of America's neighborhoods.

“In the face of these attacks, I have fought to defend fair housing and restore fair housing protections eliminated by the Trump Administration. I, along with members of the Committee, introduced legislation to make housing opportunities fairer and more equitable, such as the Restoring Fair Housing Protections Eliminated by HUD Act of 2018, and the Housing Fairness Act of 2020, the latter of which passed the Financial Services Committee in early 2020. I applaud President Biden for recognizing the integral role housing plays in our continued fight for racial and economic justice and for issuing this important executive action.” 

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