Connecticut Senator Asks HUD for Answers to Backlog of Discrimination Complaints
Richard Blumenthal, the senior US senator from Connecticut, sent a letter to Acting last week U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Adrianne Todman questions why what he describes as a “backlog” of housing discrimination complaints has yet to be addressed.
The letter, first reported at a local retailer in Connecticut CT Insiderdescribes the delay in investigations related to such complaints that impact potential homeowners and renters both within the state and nationally, Blumenthal said.
“HUD investigations into these complaints take years to complete, leaving the tenant or prospective homeowner without recourse during this period,” Blumenthal said. “Simply, justice delayed is justice denied. Therefore, I request an explanation as to why HUD has failed to provide sufficient resources to effectively and expeditiously investigate and resolve these pending complaints.”
Blumenthal then asked for an analysis of the root causes of such a backlog, and what steps he thinks Todman should take to reduce it and “provide timely relief to affected individuals,” he said.
CT Insider Previously reported that the Connecticut Legislature has failed to pass any meaningful legislation intended to address housing discrimination issues, prompting civil rights attorneys in the state to file a lawsuit against both HUD and the governor’s office.
“It is a state law that gives control over the overwhelming majority of the 33,000 federal states [housing] Choice vouchers used in Connecticut to local housing authorities, which limit where and how housing vouchers can be used,” the report said.
Blumenthal detailed some of these voter complaints in his letter.
“I have heard from my constituents the negative impact this issue is having on the people of Connecticut. The Fair Housing Act requires housing discrimination investigations to be completed within 100 days unless it is impractical to do so, but a study recently found that more than half of open federal housing discrimination investigations in Connecticut exceed that threshold , sometimes over years,” says Blumenthal. said.
“The same problem also exists at the national level, as the number of investigations into older people has steadily increased from 4,494 in 2010 to 6,145 in 2022. Despite the increase in case numbers, the number of investigators tasked with resolving housing discrimination claims has decreased from 622 in 2010 to 598 in 2024.”
Blumenthal specifically asked how the increased appropriations requested by the Department for the next fiscal year would or could be applied to this issue, explanations for the delay and exceedance of the 100-day investigation deadline, and what additional steps Congress could take to address this issue to be addressed substantively.
HousingWire contacted representatives from both HUD and Blumenthal’s office but did not immediately receive a response.
