HUD withdraws Biden-era guidance on race- and gender-based credit programs

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released a joint statement with seven other federal regulators withdrawing a Biden-era inter-agency directive that had supported special purpose credit programs (SPCPs) designed to benefit specific racial or gender groups. The rescission was presented alongside the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Department of Justice, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Credit Union Administration, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

HUD officials argued that the previous guidance ran afoul of the Fair Housing Act’s categorical prohibition on race-based discrimination in housing transactions. Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Craig Trainor stressed that lending decisions must be grounded in economically relevant criteria and never on race or other protected traits. Under Secretary Turner pledged that HUD will no longer engage in policies that divide Americans by race, marking a clear shift from the earlier DEI-focused approach.