Arizona sues feds for threatening to cut funding that helps renters fight discrimination

PHOENIX — Attorney General Kris Mayes announced Monday that Arizona is suing the Trump administration alongside a slate of other states. The lawsuit accuses the federal government of threatening to pull funding from states that refuse to weaken their housing discrimination laws.

This marks the 38th time Mayes’ office has sued the Trump administration.

“Arizona’s fair housing laws exist because our legislature passed them, and they exist for good reason,” Mayes said in the announcement. “Housing discrimination is real, it harms real people, and these laws are how we hold bad actors accountable. The federal government cannot hold critical funding hostage to force states to abandon those protections, and we won’t let it.”

What’s at stake for Arizona’s renters

The lawsuit challenges new rules that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced last September. Under those rules, Arizona faces a choice: stop enforcing parts of the state’s anti-discrimination laws, such as protections for LGBTQ renters, or lose the federal funding that helps the state investigate housing discrimination complaints.

Arizona, like many states, prohibits housing discrimination based on categories not covered by the federal Fair Housing Act, including sexual orientation, gender identity, source of income and criminal history. Under HUD’s new guidance, continuing to enforce those protections could cost the state its partnership with the federal government and the funding that comes with it.

That money supports complaint investigations, staff training and community outreach that helps renters fight back against landlord, seller or lender discrimination.

Federal enforcement has collapsed

The lawsuit comes as HUD has dramatically scaled back its own fair housing work. According to the complaint, the agency has charged just four housing discrimination cases since the start of the administration, compared to an annual average of 35. HUD has also laid off or reassigned much of its fair housing staff and fired whistleblowers who raised concerns.

State agencies now handle four times as many discrimination complaints as HUD and the Justice Department combined, the states said, making the federal threat to defund them all the more damaging.

The legal fight ahead

California and Illinois are leading the coalition. Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the federal District of Columbia are the others involved.

The coalition is asking the court to strike down the challenged provisions and bar HUD from enforcing them.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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