Trump Administration Rescinds Obama-Era Fair Housing Accessibility Enforcement Policy
The Trump administration's Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), alongside the Department of Justice, rescinded an Obama-era enforcement policy under the Fair Housing Act that had allowed third parties to file accessibility-related complaints against building owners indefinitely for original construction flaws. Under the new framework, the clock for filing complaints begins when a building receives its certificate of occupancy, with a one-year deadline for administrative complaints to HUD and a two-year cap for private civil lawsuits. Individual tenants retain the right to seek reasonable modifications for their specific housing needs under existing Fair Housing Act protections.
Single source · Not corroborated
HUD and the Department of Justice jointly rescinded a 2013 guidance that had allowed third parties to file Fair Housing Act design-and-construction complaints against current property owners indefinitely, even when those owners were not the original builders. The updated enforcement policy sets a firm limitations clock starting at the date a building receives its official certificate of occupancy.
HUD Secretary Scott Turner said the previous policy had "contributed to the skyrocketing cost of building, buying, and renting a home" and that the rescinded guidance had "no basis in law." The agency argued the 2013 policy effectively rewrote a one-year administrative complaint deadline that Congress explicitly built into the Fair Housing Act's 1988 amendments, and that federal agencies lack authority to override that statutory limit.
According to internal HUD data cited by Fox News, the previous enforcement approach led property owners to spend more than $112 million in accessibility retrofits over the last five years in order to qualify for FHA refinancing. A single third-party inspection firm identified nearly $49 million in required fixes across roughly 500 refinance deals since 2019, averaging more than $100,000 per property. HUD also said one major affordable multifamily lender attributed more than $1 billion in lost HUD-insured loan volume over four years to the prior guidance, citing deal dropouts and borrower reluctance to pursue FHA financing.