The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has launched a civil rights investigation into Boston, alleging that the city’s housing initiatives unlawfully favor Black, Latino and other minority residents in violation of federal anti-discrimination law. The probe, which targets policies under Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu, is part of the Trump administration’s broader push to scrutinize diversity, equity and inclusion programs it says cross legal lines.
The investigation, announced Thursday, stems from a sharply worded letter sent to Mayor Michelle Wu by HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity.
In the six-page letter, Assistant Secretary Craig Trainor wrote that, at Wu’s direction, city officials have sought to "smuggle 'racial equity into every layer of operations in City government.'" He accused Boston of developing and intending to implement "discriminatory housing policies in violation of the Fair Housing Act" and criticized what he described as a "city-wide system for allocating scarce housing resources based on race, color and/or national origin," according to the letter reported by multiple outlets.
HUD contends that Boston’s framing of fair housing wrongly treats the goal as building systems to achieve racial equity, rather than simply eliminating discrimination. The letter argues that the Fair Housing Act is focused on barring discrimination in the housing market and penalizing those who engage in it, not on using race-conscious measures to engineer outcomes.
HUD Secretary Scott Turner echoed that criticism in public statements, calling Boston’s approach a "social engineering project" driven by diversity, equity and inclusion ideology rather than neutral assessments of need. "This warped mentality will be fully exposed, and Boston will come into full compliance with federal anti-discrimination law," Turner said, vowing an aggressive investigation into the city’s stated aim of integrating racial equity into all layers of government.
At the center of the probe are several city housing plans and strategy documents, including Boston’s Housing Strategy 2025, its Assessment of Fair Housing and its Anti-Displacement Action Plan. Those plans call for targeted outreach to Black and Latino families, increased lending in communities of color and allocations of homeownership opportunities intended "particularly" for BIPOC households. One stated goal is that at least 65% of homeownership opportunities created through city initiatives should go to BIPOC residents, according to HUD’s summary of the city’s own materials.
HUD argues that such provisions amount to explicit racial preferences and may violate the Fair Housing Act, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Supreme Court rulings that reject outright racial balancing in government programs. The department also says it is examining whether Boston encouraged lenders and developers to prioritize communities of color over other low-income households when using federal funds.
The department’s letter further criticizes Boston’s use of data tools that classify neighborhoods in part by racial and ethnic composition to identify areas at high risk of displacement and to guide public investment. Federal officials say those practices risk reviving the logic of government-sponsored redlining, even if the city’s stated intent is to counter past discrimination. The inquiry will also look at allegations of race-conscious marketing and buyer selection by city agencies and nonprofit partners involved in homeownership programs.
City officials have defended their approach, saying Boston is working to expand access to affordable housing and homeownership for communities historically excluded from those opportunities. A city spokesperson called the federal allegations "unhinged attacks from Washington" and said Boston "will never abandon our commitment to fair and affordable housing" or its efforts to keep residents in their homes.
The investigation comes amid a wider shift in the Trump administration’s civil rights posture, with federal officials increasingly targeting local and institutional DEI programs while moving away from traditional disparate-impact enforcement. HUD officials said they will request documents and other information from Boston within 10 days. Depending on the findings, the inquiry could lead to formal discrimination charges against the city or a referral to the Justice Department for further action.
