The Fair Housing Act at Fifty: Time for a Change

In order to put my views in this Article in context, I am going to briefly reference the experience upon which I base my comments. I am a civil rights lawyer. I filed my first systemic housing discrimination lawsuit in 1980 and litigated cases against HUD, cities, and local housing agencies through the 1980s up until I left private practice in 1993 to join the Clinton administration at HUD. For the next seven years, I looked at things from the inside, first as Deputy General Counsel for HUD's Civil Rights and Litigation office, and then as Assistant Secretary for its Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity office.

Since 2000, after leaving HUD, I have continued to be engaged in policy advocacy and litigation related to the FHA, challenging policies and practices that created and perpetuate the harms of segregation and have continued to sue HUD for its own discriminatory practices and failure to meet its obligations under the FHA.