NAHRO Submits Comments on HUD’s Proposed Disparate Impact Rule Changes

By: Tushar Gurjal, Senior Policy Manager

February 17, 2026 – On February 13, NAHRO submitted comments on HUD’s proposed rule titled “HUD’s Implementation of the Fair Housing Act’s Disparate Impact Standard.” The proposed rule would remove the regulatory codification of HUD’s disparate impact standard. Disparate impact claims under the Fair Housing Act typically arise when facially neutral policies or procedures cause discriminatory effects among protected classes even in the absence of direct evidence that the policies or procedures were motivated by discriminatory intent. While the standard would still exist, it would be adjudicated by courts through case law, not regulation.

In NAHRO’s comment letter, we strongly applauded the Department’s general steps to move towards reducing administrative burdens for all HUD stakeholders, including housing agencies. Nonetheless, we urged the Department to rethink whether removing a national regulation would reduce burden as it would then force housing agencies to research the particular case law in each jurisdiction. We also noted that a national regulation provided a safe harbor that a housing agency could reference to show that it was following the law. For those reasons, we felt that keeping some form of a national regulation would help lower burden for housing agencies.

The full comment letter can be found here.