WASHINGTON DC - This afternoon, President Joe Biden outlined an agenda and signed executive actions to move forward on several important fronts toward racial equity, including a measure directing the Department of Housing and Urban Development to reassess a Trump Administration rule that hindered a plaintiff’s ability to prove housing discrimination. This Presidential Memorandum acknowledges the role the federal government has played in creating and perpetuating discriminatory housing policy.
Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) Executive Vice President Nikitra Bailey said, “President Biden took actions today that constitute a critical first step by his Administration to address injustices that are holding our country back. Prioritizing racial equity is needed at the outset, and fully implementing the Fair Housing Act of 1968 as part of a comprehensive racial equity agenda is essential to expanding opportunity for all Americans. These actions give Black and brown families an opportunity to live free of discrimination and participate fully in the economy. We look forward to working with the new Administration in a continued focus on racial equity.”
Bailey added, “Today’s actions will help to move the nation closer to its ideals and center solutions to discrimination that hinder opportunity, allowing marginalized communities to move closer to equal justice under law.”
Additional Background
The Biden racial equity agenda includes four executive actions signed today: the Presidential Memorandum “Redressing Our Nation's and the Federal Government's History of Discriminatory Housing Practices and Policies” (referenced above), a memorandum for “Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Relationships,” an “Executive Order on Reforming Our Incarceration System to Eliminate the Use of Privately Operated Criminal Detention Facilities,” and a “Memorandum Condemning and Combating Racism, Xenophobia, and Intolerance Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States.” The Asian American and Pacific Islander community has faced increased discrimination in housing during COVID-19.
View CRL’s priorities for the new administration.
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Press Contact: matthew.kravitz@responsiblelending.org