HUD Limits Statute of Limitations on Fair Housing Construction Violations

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued new guidance on the Fair Housing Act's statute of limitations for claims alleging violations of its design and construction requirements, shortening the time period to bring such claims. The guidance replaces an Obama-era legal interpretation and enforces the Fair Housing Act's statute of limitations, preventing what HUD called unnecessary red tape that burdens builders and passes costs to homebuyers and renters. HUD said that over the past five years, more than $110 million in repair costs were imposed on building owners, regardless of whether they contributed to any alleged design and construction violations. 'For too long, unnecessary government policies have contributed to the skyrocketing cost of building, buying, and renting a home. Today's action rescinds unnecessary and expensive liability created by legal theories that have no basis in law,' HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a statement. 'The Trump Administration is following the law as written by Congress and interpreted by the courts. We will continue to repeal and replace guidance that does not honor these lawful commitments while ensuring Americans can access affordable housing.' Less Affordable Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Craig Trainor said the previous guidance made housing less affordable. 'Congress wrote a clear statute of limitations into the Fair Housing Act. That limitation is part of the law, not a suggestion for sly bureaucrats to disregard,' Trainor said. 'We will not allow Obama-era guidance to rewrite the Fair Housing Act, expose American builders to indefinite legal liability, and make housing less affordable for hardworking American families.' Housing advocates said, however, the new guidance would incentivize builders to neglect accessibility requirements that are already underenforced and, in many instances, undiscovered within the now-required one-year limit. 'This is a strong signal that HUD — and this administration — is going to turn a blind eye if you build a building not in conformance with the accessibility requirements,' Sasha Samberg-Champion, special civil rights counsel at the National Fair Housing Alliance and a former deputy general counsel for HUD, told the online news site NOTUS. In 2013, HUD and the Department of Justice formalized a policy allowing individuals to file a complaint 'at any time until the violation' was corrected in most cases, NOTUS reported.