LDF Reaches Settlement on Behalf of Housing Opportunities Made Equal (New York), Requiring Improved Training and New Practices to Prevent Housing Discrimination

 

Read a PDF of the Legal Defense Fund's statement here.

The Legal Defense Fund (LDF) has reached a settlement in Housing Opportunities Made Equal Inc. (HOME) v. Avant Realty – a lawsuit born out of HOME’s investigation into the company’s real estate practices. The lawsuit and settlement come after HOME alleged Avant Realty limited housing opportunities for Black residents of Buffalo, New York through racial steering, a discriminatory practice where real estate agents or brokers direct people seeking homes into specific neighborhoods based on their race. While investigating real estate agents in the Buffalo area, HOME found that Avant Realty treated Black people seeking homes differently than their white counterparts. LDF and HOME alleged Avant Realty’s practices violated the Fair Housing Act and New York State Human Rights Law.

As a result of the settlement, HOME will provide additional training to Avant Realty’s staff on fair housing laws and best practices to avoid racial steering. Avant Realty will also adopt a non-discrimination policy and has agreed to ongoing monitoring of its real estate practices by HOME.

“Housing Opportunities Made Equal (New York) is satisfied by the amicable resolution of this matter and looks forward to working with Avant Realty and other real estate firms to ensure compliance with fair housing laws,” said Daniel Corbitt, Associate Director of HOME. “In Western New York and throughout our state, homeownership offers an unparalleled opportunity to attain security, stability, and intergenerational wealth. However, significant racial disparities in homeownership persist. We all have a responsibility to eliminate racially discriminatory policies and practices in the residential real estate market, thereby creating a more vibrant and just community for everyone.”

“We are pleased to have reached a settlement with Avant Realty,” said Morenike Fajana, Senior Counsel at LDF. “At LDF, we know that where you live matters and impacts every aspect of your life – from access to good jobs and high-performing schools, to safe streets and access to quality health care. We are grateful to HOME for their years of service dedicated to fair housing, especially the work done to root out differential treatment that forces Black people into under-resourced neighborhoods and blocks them from economic opportunity. Today is a win for the Black residents of Buffalo.”

“While segregation remains an entrenched problem in the Buffalo region, today’s settlement is a step in the right direction,” said Elizabeth Caldwell, Assistant Counsel at LDF. “We are thankful to HOME for their commitment to fighting housing discrimination and their work to uncover and combat racial steering. LDF will continue to work alongside HOME and others to help families find suitable housing, free from discrimination.”

The LDF is the country’s first and foremost civil and human rights law firm. It was founded in 1940 under the leadership of Thurgood Marshall, who subsequently became the first African-American U.S. Supreme Court Justice.

Read the April 4, 2025 LDF article.

Thurgood Marshall Institute Releases Housing Justice Publications in Honor of National Fair Housing Month

To commemorate the 57th anniversary of the passage of the National Fair Housing Act, the Legal Defense Fund’s (LDF) is releasing two housing justice publications. The first publication – Barred from Housing: The Discriminatory Impact of Criminal History Restrictions in Tenant Screening – highlights how public and private housing providers often use overly broad and restrictive criminal record policies that limit housing opportunities. According to the report, these policies may violate the Fair Housing Act by having unjustified discriminatory effects on Black tenants.

The second publication is a podcast episode entitled “The Promises and Threats of Algorithms in Housing,” which details the increased use of algorithms and predictive technologies in the housing industry. Guests on the episode, including Maryland Legal Aid, argue that while algorithmic technologies have the potential to increase equity by removing human bias from decision-making, there is very little transparency and oversight over these tools and there is clear evidence that these technologies are replicating and amplifying existing biases.

“Access to safe, affordable housing is critical to the fight for a stronger, more equitable, and more prosperous country,” said Karla McKanders, Director of the Thurgood Marshall Institute (TMI). “At a time when the administration is undermining fair housing policies and cutting funds for various programs meant to remedy housing discrimination, our publications draw attention to the prevalence of housing discrimination and the continued need for essential housing protections to ensure all communities have access to safe, dignified, and affordable housing. We are proud to work alongside advocates from across the country to make the dream of fair housing a reality for those who are most often denied it.”

These publications are an extension of the TMI’s efforts to advance LDF’s mission of ensuring equitable access to housing for Black families and communities. To learn more about housing discrimination and the work being done to fight it, view The Black-White Racial Wealth Gap and Bad Housing Blues: Discrimination in the Housing Choice Voucher Program in Memphis, Tennessee.

Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation’s first civil rights law organization. LDF’s TMI is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. 

Read the April 15, 2025 Legal Defense Fund article.

Civil and Human Rights Organizations Sue Trump Administration Over Executive Orders Banning Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility and Erasing Transgender People

The Legal Defense Fund (LDF) and Lambda Legal have filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the National Urban League, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago challenging three anti-equity executive orders from President Trump related to diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and transgender people. LDF and Lambda Legal claim these orders will severely limit the organizations’ ability to provide critical social and health services such as HIV treatment, fair housing, equal employment opportunities, affordable credit, civil rights protections, and many others. This would harm countless people across the US, including people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, people with disabilities, and people living with HIV. The lawsuit claims that the administration is violating the organizations’ rights to free speech and due process and is engaging in intentional discrimination by issuing and enforcing the anti-equity orders.

The three executive orders being challenged would end equity-related grants and forbid federally-funded entities from engaging in diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility programs, and from recognizing the existence of transgender people. These orders reverse decades of civil rights progress and pose an existential threat to the organizations that advocate for the civil rights of transgender people, and provide them shelter, services, and support.

“Fair housing is a national policy of the U.S. Our nation’s fair housing principles are embedded in the Constitution and civil rights statutes secured by the blood, sweat, tears, and lives of millions of people who fought to make our Declaration of Independence and Constitution real for everyone in this country. The Constitution and our civil rights laws are centered on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. The President cannot undo the Constitution or take away our rights by affixing a signature to an executive order,” said Lisa Rice, President and CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance. “The administration’s Executive Orders and OMB funding freeze memorandum have caused chaos, fear, insecurity, dysfunction, and loss of rights. The Administration’s illegal actions put all people in harm’s way, driving up the cost of housing and leaving millions exposed to discrimination, harassment, and retaliation with no structure for protection. ‘Out of Many, One’ is our national motto -– any effort to divide, stoke fear and treat people unfairly is not in line with our nation’s founding principles. America is best when united and relentlessly pursuing a country where everyone, regardless of their background, has a fair chance at reaching the American Dream.”

“Beyond spreading inaccurate, dehumanizing, and divisive rhetoric, President Trump’s executive orders seek to tie the hands of organizations, like our clients, providing critical services to people who need them most,” said Janai Nelson, President and Director-Counsel of LDF. “The three orders we are challenging today perpetuate false and longstanding stereotypes that Black people and other underrepresented groups lack skills, talent, and merit - willfully ignoring the discriminatory barriers that prevent a true meritocracy from flourishing. We proudly stand with our clients and Lambda Legal against these unconstitutional orders and hope the court will act quickly so the arduous work of advancing and sustaining our multiracial democracy can continue without unlawful interference from the Trump administration.”

“These policies drip with contempt for transgender people, and pose a significant threat to critical health and HIV services that support marginalized communities, putting lives at risk,” said Jose Abrigo, Lambda Legal’s HIV Project Director. “These orders pose an existential threat to transgender people and the organizations that provide them with shelter and support. The orders defund organizations providing critical health and HIV services, and punish organizations for striving to improve the lives of Black people, people of color, and members of other marginalized communities. They are patently unconstitutional. Lambda Legal and LDF teamed up because the fights to end racism, the HIV epidemic, and anti-transgender bias are inseparable. For organizations like our plaintiffs providing these services, addressing these compounding barriers is essential to HIV prevention and care, and this policy would impede the work to eradicate and address the HIV epidemic.”

The lawsuit, National Urban League v. Trump, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, claims that the executive orders violate the plaintiffs’ First Amendment right to free speech by censoring and chilling their views on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. The plaintiffs also claim that the executive orders are so vague that the organizations do not know what is and is not prohibited, in violation of their Fifth Amendment due process rights. Also, the executive orders discriminate against people of color, women, and LGBTQ+ people, with particular animus towards Black people and transgender individuals, in violation of the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection.

You can read the full complaint here.

Read the February 19, 2025 NFHA article.