Poverty & Race Research Action Council

Please consider supporting our work through a donation to our fearless leader's marathon fundraiser!

PRRAC Update: more HUD rulemakings; PRRAC ED op-ed in Shelterforce; HOPE VI research (February 5, 2026) - PRRAC — Connecting Research to Advocacy A Deluge of Dreck from HUD: Three different harmful rulemakings from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have cleared the inter-agency

Yesterday's PRRAC Update presents an opportunity to re-read @tsilverstein.bsky.social's op-ed in @shelterforce.bsky.social (you've read it already, right?), to fret over bad HUD rules, to explore new HOPE VI research, and, most importantly, to imagine different Super Bowl halftime show scenarios.

Want to support our cutting edge work while boosting Thomas's motivation through the winter cold? Consider donating to this fundraiser!

HUD Scolds Boston and Minneapolis for Doing What It Says It Wants Done Investigations into the fair housing practices of Boston and Minneapolis contradict race-neutral guidance from the Supreme Court.

“There is simply no legal authority to sustain HUD’s attack on targeted universalist policy interventions.”

@tsilverstein.bsky.social, President at AHJ member @prrac.bsky.social, breaks down HUD’s punitive investigations into Boston + Minneapolis:

Our ED @tsilverstein.bsky.social breaks down HUD's latest lawless perversion of the Fair Housing Act.

Public Inspection: Implementation of the Fair Housing Act’s Disparate Impact Standard Implementation of the Fair Housing Act’s Disparate Impact Standard

Today, the "day early" version of a proposed HUD rule to rescind the Department's existing disparate impact regulations appeared on the Federal Register website. It will be formally published in the Federal Register tomorrow, kicking off a 30-day comment period. Here's what that all means.

1/

The Trump Admin’s Anti-Immigrant Housing Policy Reflects a History of Xenophobia in Public Housing Op-ed: A scholar explains how inti-immigrant housing policies have been cast as a way for citizens to access more housing but ultimately fail to prevent the shortages driving the crises.

nextcity.org/urbanist-new...

Delaware landlords now must accept Section 8 applications A new law now requires landlords in Delaware to consider rental applications from people who pay rent using Section 8 vouchers, a government rental assistance for those with low incomes.The law, which...

Great and overdue news for tenants with Housing Choice Vouchers in Delaware. This passed a while ago but had an effective date that was set pretty far out after bill passage.

Why We Must Fight for Housing First Housing with preconditions means more people will cycle through shelters, jails, and the streets, fueling efforts to criminalize homelessness instead of solving it.

shelterforce.org/2025/11/26/w...

Redlining is a bigger problem than banks' representatives admit The American Bankers Association's assessment of the Biden administration's fair lending enforcement efforts makes questionable claims about a practice that remains a major problem in some U.S. commun...

Fantastic piece from our friends at @natfairhouse.bsky.social and Relman & Colfax. Proving discrimination through circumstantial or indirect evidence is an approach grounded in over half a century of case law and shouldn't be considered remotely controversial.

www.americanbanker.com/opinion/redl...

Redlining is a bigger problem than banks' representatives admit The American Bankers Association's assessment of the Biden administration's fair lending enforcement efforts makes questionable claims about a practice that remains a major problem in some U.S. commun...

Fantastic piece from our friends at @natfairhouse.bsky.social and Relman & Colfax. Proving discrimination through circumstantial or indirect evidence is an approach grounded in over half a century of case law and shouldn't be considered remotely controversial.

www.americanbanker.com/opinion/redl...

PRRAC Update (October 16, 2025): Federal civil service decimation; new PRRAC & NHLP publications - PRRAC — Connecting Research to Advocacy The Cynical Use of the Government Shutdown to Complete the Decimation of the Federal Civil Service: Reporting from Bloomberg CityLab with regard to HUD and

Did you miss last Thursday's PRRAC Update in the swirl of excitement that was the 10th National Conference on Housing Mobility? Well, you can still read it here:

www.prrac.org/prrac-update...

Very interesting report from the Institute for Family Studies on multi-bedroom floorplans that pencil just as well as floorplans with fewer bedrooms AND align with household preferences. Across all income strata, we need more family-sized multifamily units.

ifstudies.org/report-brief...

Yesterday w/ @shrivercenter.bsky.social, @prrac.bsky.social, @masslawreform.bsky.social, @seniorcaucus.bsky.social, Northwestern Law Tenant Advocacy Clinic, & Lakeside Tower Tenant Union, we urged the 1st Circuit to protect tenants, save homes, & uphold a preliminary injunction to access GRRP $$$.

PRRAC Update (October 2, 2025): Last chance to register for Housing Mobility Conference + 2025 Mobility Programs Report is here! - PRRAC — Connecting Research to Advocacy Register for the 10th National Conference on Housing Mobility before It Is Too Late: The registration period for the 10th National Conference on Housing

From yesterday's PRRAC Update: time is running out to register for the 10th National Conference on Housing Mobility; the new edition of our report on housing mobility programs nationwide is out; and an important amicus brief about the Green and Resilient Retrofit Program.

A screenshot of an X post from the verified account of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (@HUDgov), posted at 11:40 PM on September 30, 2025. The post reads: “HUD’s website has been updated with the following message: 'The Radical Left in Congress shut down the government. HUD will use available resources to help Americans in need.'” Below the post is a screenshot of the HUD.gov homepage with a large red banner with the described message spanning the top of the main webpage.

Pathetic. HUD is supposed to serve everyone—not sling partisan mud.

A fully funded HUD could do so much to fix our housing crisis. Instead, leadership pulls stunts like this. We can do so much better.

PRRAC Update (September 18, 2025): Register for Housing Mobility Conference! + Nebraska SOID challenge; CA zoning reform - PRRAC — Connecting Research to Advocacy New Misguided Challenge to Source-of-Income Discrimination Protections Filed in Nebraska: On September 4, 2025, four private landlords filed suit in the

The Update was positively packed yesterday. If you take away anything, you should take away that you should register for the 10th National Conference on Housing Mobility ASAP! But stick around for the opposite of a hot take on CA's upzoning bill, dreary news about threats to SOID laws & more.

Kaine, Schiff, & Peters Introduce Bill to Protect Veterans and Low-Income Families from Housing Discrimination | U.S. Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), a former fair housing attorney, and Adam Schiff (D-CA), alongside U.S. Representative Scott...

"Prohibiting source of income discrimination is vital to our collective efforts to foster integrated communities, increase economic mobility, and reduce homelessness," said Thomas Silverstein, Executive Director of the Poverty & Race Research Action Council.

To sprawl or not to sprawl But is that really the question?

This is an outstanding piece from the legendary Alan Mallach.

via @prrac.bsky.social: HUD Ignores the Notice and Comment Requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act to Further a Xenophobic Agenda

Participating in this documentary was pure joy, I loved the boss! It’s excellent. Hope you will watch it on PBS.

Becoming Thurgood: America’s Social Architect Explore the life and legacy of the nation’s first African American Supreme Court justice.

We're very excited for the forthcoming documentary Becoming Thurgood, which will premiere on PBS next Tuesday and which features our Board member @sheryllcashin.bsky.social.

The anticipation is building! We can't wait to see everyone in Chicago next month. In the meantime, if you're coming from out of town for any part of #HousingMobility2025 and haven't yet reserved your hotel room, please do. The discounted block expires on 9/15, and it may run out before then.

PRRAC Update (September 4, 2025): New amicus brief; HUD's xenophobic actions; PRRAC at YIMBYtown - PRRAC — Connecting Research to Advocacy PRRAC Joins Amicus Brief in Defense of New York’s Prohibition on Source of Income Discrimination: On August 18, 2025, PRRAC, along with our partners at the

PRRAC teamed up with @nhlp.bsky.social , @homelesslaw.bsky.social & Covington & Burling on an amicus brief that makes the case for why bans on source of income discrimination are consistent with the 4th Amendment.

Check out our update to learn about the brief & more!

www.prrac.org/prrac-update...

PRRAC Update (August 21, 2025): The inhumane cost of Trump's D.C. plans - PRRAC — Connecting Research to Advocacy Ramping Up the Criminalization of Homelessness Is Inhumane and Counterproductive: There is a lot to be said about what is wrong with President Trump’s

Some big wins in the state courts on source of income discrimination, but we can't ignore the ways in which demagogic, evidence-free attacks on our unhoused neighbors are being used to justify the takeover of D.C.

Our ED was on the radio today to explain the harm and chaos sown by the Trump Administration's attacks on DC's unhoused residents and to correct the record on what actually works to end homelessness.

A graphic with a blue-tinted monochrome photo background showing Donald Trump speaking at a White House press podium bearing the presidential seal, flanked by Pete Hegseth to his left and Pam Bondi to his right, and U.S. flags behind; overlaid white text reads: Statement: Trump’s Attack on D.C.: Banishment is Not a Solution to Homelessness. In the lower-right corner, a small logo reads: Alliance for Housing Justice.

STATEMENT: Trump’s Attack on D.C.: Banishment is Not a Solution to Homelessness. On Sunday, President Trump posted a horrifying screed announcing plans to force all of D.C.’s unhoused residents to “move out, IMMEDIATELY” & send them “FAR from the Capital.” W/ HUD reporting a national record of 771,480 people unhoused on a single night last year—including 5,616 unhoused people in D.C., over 80% of whom were Black—vilifying & rounding up our cities’ most vulnerable is racist, cruel, irrational & dangerous. If the goal is to solve homelessness, forced mass displacement & criminalization do the opposite: they deepen trauma, erect barriers to housing & work, worsen racial disparities, and put women, people w/ disabilities, LGBTQ+ people, veterans, & other underserved groups at greater risk. Serious leaders must reject Trump's approach & invest in implementing real solutions at scale: build & preserve social & public housing; expand permanent supportive housing & services; & enact strong tenant protections so residents aren’t pushed into homelessness in the 1st place

🚨 STATEMENT on Trump’s Attack on D.C.: Banishment is Not a Solution to Homelessness.

Serious leaders must reject Trump's approach & invest in implementing real solutions at scale 🔽

How projects compete for the state's hundreds of millions pegged for affordable housing Have you ever wondered how the state determines which affordable housing projects get state and federal funding? HPR's Ashley Mizuo reports on the process and some changes under consideration.

"With so much funding at stake, Hawai‘i Appleseed is working to raise public awareness about how QAP works and how the community can be involved."

Thankful for our partnership with ‪@hiappleseed.bsky.social‬ and their leadership on this critical issue.

www.hawaiipublicradio.org/local-news/2...

There could not be a more fitting tribute to the incredible career of our former Board member (and the best FHEO Assistant Secretary in HUD's history) Betsy Julian than an award named in honor of Alex Polikoff.

Check out this great report from our partners at PolicyLink to learn how to design, win, and implement effective rent control policies at the state and local levels (featuring our ED @tsilverstein.bsky.social).