On March 26, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued a temporary restraining order requiring HUD to immediately restore grants related to the Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP). HUD had terminated these grants in a February 27 letter. The court ordered the defendants to reinstate any FHIP grants terminated under this letter unless the action complies with Congressional authorization, federal statutes, the APA, or any relevant regulations. The order remains in effect for 14 days. HUD must notify employees and grant recipients of the order by March 27 and submit a compliance status report by March 28.

As previously covered by InfoBytes, several fair housing groups sued HUD, HUD Secretary Scott Turner, DOGE, and DOGE’s acting administrator for terminating these grants purportedly without notice or explanation. This prompted backlash as congressmembers sent a letter to HUD Secretary Turner over these decisions (covered here).

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