The National Housing Law Project on Trump Admin’s Unlawful Assault on Consumer Protection Watchdog: Working People Will Suffer
WASHINGTON D.C.—The National Housing Law Project (NHLP) today released the following statement by Supervising Attorney Lisa Sitkin in response to the Trump administration’s unlawful attempt to gut and defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB):
“No matter if we rent or own, everyone deserves the freedom to live where they want without fear of being bilked into foreclosure, eviction, or bankruptcy. The CFPB defends that freedom. Congress created the Bureau in the wake of the Great Recession to protect all consumers, including working homeowners and tenants, from abusive and predatory actions by the financial and for-profit real estate industries that displaced and impoverished millions of families.
“Over the past decade, the CFPB has helped keep working homeowners and tenants across the country stably housed. It made rules that prevent unscrupulous lenders from peddling unaffordable home loans designed to fail. It saved homes by requiring irresponsible mortgage servicers to give people who are struggling financially a real shot at avoiding foreclosure. The Bureau also reined in corporate landlords who use unfair and biased tenant-screening and debt collection practices that shut out poor people and people of color from housing, and charge abusive junk fees that pad their profits and drive people to eviction.
“Before the CFPB, big banks and other corporate players in the housing market rigged the rules in their favor while the government enabled them or looked the other way. Big banks and corporations ran roughshod over working families, causing them to lose everything. The Trump administration’s attack on the CFPB will again unleash the reckless greed of the real estate industry, private equity, and corporate landlords, making all of us unsafe. We’re committing to defending the CFPB and protecting the tenants and homeowners now at grave risk of losing their homes.”
The National Housing Law Project supports the recent lawsuit filed against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought, to challenge the unlawful assault on the CFPB.