Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity FHEO

One week after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., President Johnson signed the Fair Housing Act on April 11, 1968, as Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, banning discrimination in housing by race, color, religion, and national origin. Sex was added in 1974. The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 added disability and familial status and gave HUD real enforcement power, including hearings before administrative law judges. The office is led by the Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.

FHEO investigates complaints of discrimination by landlords, sellers, lenders, insurers, and advertisers, attempts conciliation, and refers cases for charges, with the Justice Department handling pattern-or-practice suits. It funds state and local agencies that enforce equivalent laws and private fair housing groups that investigate discrimination, often using testers who pose as renters or buyers. It also enforces accessibility requirements for new multifamily housing and nondiscrimination rules in HUD-funded programs.

A central dispute is the law's requirement that HUD affirmatively further fair housing, which obliges communities receiving HUD funds to address segregation. Rules putting that duty into practice were issued in 2015, ended in 2020, restored in 2021, and terminated again in 2025, when HUD also canceled many grants to private fair housing groups. Supporters of the 2025 changes said the rules imposed federal mandates on local zoning, while fair housing advocates said they would weaken enforcement against persistent discrimination.