The Fight for Fair Housing

Senator Hughes, Federal Lawmakers, and Advocates Fight Back Against Housing Discrimination

March 18, 2025 − Philadelphia, PA − Senator Vincent Hughes, PA Senate Democratic Appropriations Chair, gathered a group of federal and state lawmakers, housing advocates, and community members to call out Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and its unconstitutional action to freeze over $30 million in funding that has been appropriated to Fair Housing Initiative Program grants.

“We’ve gathered this group of individuals here- leaders from the federal, state, and local level- to let the public know that protections against discrimination in housing are under attack,” said Senator Hughes. “Over 60 organizations just witnessed a decimation to their funding by DOGE. This means that in 2025, under this administration, the elimination of housing discrimination, which is the law of this country, is no longer in effect.”

On February 27th, over 60 fair housing groups across the country received a letter informing them that their fair housing funding had been terminated effective that same day. In total, 78 grants were terminated that were set to provide over $30 million for fair housing services.

3 Pennsylvania organizations have had their funding frozen, including the Fair Housing Rights Center in Southeast Pennsylvania. CEO Angela McIver joined the press conference to call out DOGE for trying to “delegitimize programs that promote fair housing” and affirmed that President Trump and Musk will not break “the fair housing spirit.”