In a letter to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, the NFHA argued that the administration was using "erroneous information" to justify what they called "drastic and unjustified cuts" to programs designed to fight housing discrimination across the country.

The dispute centers on a dispute around fair housing complaints and who is filing them. HUD has said about 75% of complaints filed last year came from agencies that are funded through its Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP), which gives money to state and local agencies. The NFHA, however, contends that HUD has it backwards, and that 75% of complaints are filed by local nonprofit organizations funding through the department's Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP).

The proposed cuts come as Congress is debating the fiscal year 2026 budget. The current proposal includes about $43.5 billion in cuts to HUD, a 51% cut from last year's budget. Cuts would include ending grants to local and state organizations, trimming the department's Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity by nearly a third, and eliminating the FHIP altogether.

"These harmful cuts will not result in efficiencies and instead will hurt everyday people trying to secure housing free of discrimination with the ability to live and thrive in well-resourced communities," said Nikitra Bailey, executive vice president of NFHA, in a statement.

In her letter to Secretary Turner, NFHA president Lisa Rice warned that cuts to fair housing programs could affect vulnerable Americans across the country. In 2023, the group registered more than 34,000 complaints of housing discrimination nationwide, a 3.5% increase from the previous year, according to an NFHA report.

"Without local fair housing organizations on the ground serving their communities," she wrote, "everyday people will be unfairly denied housing opportunities, resulting in more people becoming homeless and/or facing housing insecurity."

The budget proposal is part of a larger government-wide effort to slash programs, and in some cases whole agencies. DOGE, the cost-cutting effort formerly led by Elon Musk, has already cut hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts, even as HUD's own council has warned that it could disrupt important operations at the agency.