2B. Fair Housing and Immigrants’ Rights

Immigrant communities are particularly vulnerable to housing discrimination, especially in the current political climate and escalating immigration enforcement. Landlords have been emboldened by anti-immigrant rhetoric to mistreat and exclude immigrant tenants. This panel will cover agency guidance on language access in housing and the current state of public and private enforcement of language access regulations; using disparate treatment and disparate impact theories under the Fair Housing Act to challenge immigration status discrimination as a proxy for discrimination based on race and national origin; other federal and state laws that can be used to protect the housing rights of immigrant plaintiffs; and potential regulatory changes that would limit immigrant families’ access to federal housing benefits.