HOME Statement on Fair Housing Funding – July 30, 2026

Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Greater Cincinnati (HOME) is a private nonprofit fair housing organization serving Southwest Ohio. Since its founding in 1968, HOME has spent more than 50 years working to promote stable, integrated communities and eliminate illegal housing discrimination. HOME provides a wide range of services including fair housing counseling, fair housing training for both residents and housing providers, investigations into alleged instances of housing discrimination, and the filing of fair housing complaints when violations do occur.

We urge you to support the full funding of the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP). As everyday Ohioans face an escalating fair and affordable housing crisis, HUD’s latest actions around FHIP, a bipartisan HUD-funded program created under President Reagan (1987), represent an attempt to end the program as we know it. For FY 25, HUD is not awarding any FHIP money for fair housing enforcement and education, and for FY 26, HUD has made major changes that de-prioritize funding for experienced fair housing organizations. HUD’s FY 2025-26 Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs) are an extreme departure from the intent of Congress regarding the FHIP program. The Administration has proposed eliminating FHIP entirely despite decades of strong bipartisan support for continued funding. Congress restored funding for the program for FY 26, but now that Congressional policy choice is being undermined by HUD’s actions.

Like many nonprofit fair housing organizations, HOME relies heavily on FHIP funding to support staff, sustain operations, and continue providing essential services to members of our community. HUD’s new funding policies effectively bar experienced organizations like HOME from receiving FHIP funding. Without Congressional action, these policies will lead to staffing cuts and the reduction of critical services provided by local fair housing organizations that ensure access to housing opportunities free of discrimination for disabled veterans and seniors requiring accessible housing opportunities, families with children looking to rent an apartment free of discrimination, women seeking to live without sexual abuse from landlords, and people seeking to buy a home free of harassment.

The need for fair housing services remains significant. HOME and other fair housing organizations serve as a critical local resource for individuals seeking assistance, education, and support in navigating these complex challenges. Recent fair housing cases resolved by HOME include:

• Assisting a disabled veteran in obtaining a settlement and monetary damages after a landlord refused to rent a unit to the veteran because his disability required him to use a walker.

• Assisting a disabled client in obtaining a settlement, monetary damages, and a reasonable modification allowing her to install a backup generator to power necessary medical equipment during a power outage after her HOA denied her request for a reasonable modification without explanation.

• Assisting a disabled client in obtaining a reasonable accommodation to allow her to have an assistance animal after her landlord repeatedly denied her requests.

These cases highlight the important role of local fair housing organizations like HOME in preventing illegal housing discrimination. Underscoring this point, HOME recently released a new report titled The Accommodation Gap: Disability Testing in Greater Cincinnati Housing that analyzes the results of HOME’s recent fair housing investigations. The report identified that nearly half of HOME’s investigations into alleged instances of disability discrimination found evidence of that discrimination occurring. Housing providers consistently refused to make accommodations for designated parking spaces for individuals with mobility impairments and accommodations to move rent payment dates to accommodate Social Security Disability (SSDI) payments. Without FHIP funding, these essential fair housing services may not be available when people need them most.

We urge you to support local fair housing organizations like ours by contacting your members of Congress and asking them to provide the highest possible amount for HUD appropriations and to fully fund fair housing programs for FY27.  In just one minute, you can send a message to Congress by following this link: https://takeaction.io/nfha/contact-your-member-of-congress-today-and-urge-support-for-hud-s-critical-critical-community-based-f/

We need your help advocating for FHIP to be fully funded in the appropriations process so that this necessary bipartisan program can continue to support everyday Ohioans facing unequal housing practices.