Contact Us

Please contact us with questions, concerns, or if you need more information. We’re more than happy to help!

We have many resources available for those in need. Please read our Homelessness Facts and Housing Resources pages to learn more about homelessness.

         

123 Street Avenue, City Town, 99999

(123) 555-6789

email@address.com

 

You can set your address, phone number, email and site description in the settings tab.
Link to read me page with more information.

WHA Blog

Learn about the latest news and upcoming events from the WHA and its member agencies.

Undermining The Federal Government’s Commitment to Correcting Racial and Social Inequities – Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility

Jessilyn Averill

Dismantling Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) practices and policies halts the progress on addressing historic and ongoing systemic racism and discrimination and worsens disparities for those already most impacted by homelessness.

Though DEIA language and efforts have been removed at the federal agency level, at this time this erasure has not been passed down to grantees of federal funding. It is important we know what has NOT changed and to do our part in not complying in advance for “orders” that are not in effect. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH), this can look like:

  1. Continuum of Care (CoC) leaders continuing to implement and sustain equity practices within their systems – including data analysis, human-centered policy and program design, and equitable hiring practices.

  2. CoC leaders also continuing to partner authentically with people with lived experience of homelessness, including through hiring and Board/leadership development opportunities. Read here guidance on how to do this.

Stay Tuned

Another “restatement” of the affirmatively furthering fair housing obligation from the new HUD Secretary is expected to come out soon. The Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) protection stems from Congress’ passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968 but makes sure that cities, counties, states, public housing authorities, and other entities it funds do not discriminate and instead take active steps to tackle segregation and housing inequality. In 2020 the AFFH protection was devastated when the Trump administration gutted this vital framework.

HUD proposed a new AFFH rule in 2023 but the Biden Administration left office before finalizing that update. On February 12, 2025 HUD sent an Interim Final Rule as well as proposed revisions to the Equal Access Rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). There is no summary or text for either. The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) is monitoring the Federal Register for actual text and will alert advocates to actions they can take in response to what will probably be an attempt to gut AFFH again and to deny access to programs for individuals based on their gender.

According to the NLIHC, there are actions we all can take as housing advocates to create a society that is less discriminatory and more integrated:

  1. We must hold HUD accountable for enforcing fair housing policies by providing public comment on changes to their policies and bringing them to court if warranted.

  2. We must improve access to credit and fight for stronger consumer protections, especially for people of color and low-income individuals. It is unacceptable that in 2025 individuals still face discrimination when they try to get loans from banks or apply for housing.

  3. We must update the Fair Housing Act to provide legal protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, source of income, veteran status, domestic violence survivor status, or criminal record.

  4. We must continue to collect data and establish clear goals to determine if we are making progress in ending housing discrimination and segregation.

Return to main page of blog series