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Fair housing testers warn HUD funding cuts would halt Boston audit testing; Suffolk asks council for $200,000
Summary
Suffolk University's housing testing director told the council the region's fair-housing testing work is funded largely by HUD and at risk; she asked the city to budget $200,000 to sustain testing and legal outreach.
Kelly Viera, director of investigations and outreach at the Housing Discrimination Testing Program at Suffolk University, told the City Council ways and means committee April 28 that local fair-housing testing capacity is at immediate risk if federal HUD funding is reduced.
"Testing is like secret shopping for the rental market," Viera said in public testimony, describing the program's role in documenting discrimination against voucher holders and other protected classes. She said the program's 2020 study "Qualified Renters Need Not Apply" found housing providers discriminated against voucher holders almost 90 percent of the time.
Viera said the Suffolk testing program partnered with the city's Office of Fair Housing and Equity from 2020 through 2022 and that partnership generated agency-initiated complaints and over $66,000 in settlements redirected to the city or local nonprofits. She said the program relies on grants from HUD's Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) and that two grant applications have been pending at HUD since November; Suffolk does not expect awards and currently lacks capacity to run the testing work at prior scale.
Viera asked the committee to include $200,000 in the city's FY26 budget to sustain testing, legal clinics and outreach: "Including $200,000 for the housing discrimination testing program will allow us to continue our work toward ensuring that individuals and families in Boston have the equal access to housing that they deserve," she said.
City officials and councilors discussed the Fair Housing and Equity office's current staffing and casework. The administration said Fair Housing closed about 30 cases in FY25 and has investigative staff and outreach personnel in place, and that Dwayne Watts, a deputy in the office, is stepping in as interim lead while the administration conducts a hiring process to replace the late Bob Terrell.
Councilors asked whether the city can scale up paired testing and work with real-estate professionals on training; the administration said expanding training to real-estate companies is a stated goal for FY26 pending new leadership in the Fair Housing and Equity office. No committee vote was taken at the hearing.
