In a new open letter, Craig W. Trainor, Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), has asserted that “sharing crime and school data is wrongly equated with racial discrimination.”
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“Contrary to publicly available materials from industry leaders on steering, real estate agents and brokers do not violate the Fair Housing Act merely by discussing with prospective homebuyers or renters the prevalence of crime or the quality of schools in neighborhoods,” the letter said, citing an article from the National Association of Realtors titled “Is this a safe neighborhood? Don’t answer that.”
Both NAR and real estate portals have made a point in recent years of encouraging agents to prevent steering by directing client inquiries about schools and crime statistics to third-party resources in order to avoid expressing subjective assessments of neighborhoods.
Trainor’s letter characterizes such advice as the result of Biden-era policies, pointing to the 2021 HUD Memorandum “Redressing Our Nation’s and the Federal Government’s History of Discriminatory Housing Practices and Policies,” which it says is superseded by President Trump’s April 23, 2025, Executive Order, “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy.”
In arguing for the permissibility of disclosing school and crime statistics, Trainor’s letter cites First Amendment concerns, asserting, “If the Act made it illegal for real estate agents to discuss schools or crime in a neighborhood, grave First Amendment concerns would arise. Indeed, the Act provides that ‘it is the policy of the United States to provide, within constitutional limitations, for fair housing throughout the United States.'”
In addition, Trainor emphasized that agent intent is now part of the equation for assessing whether or not steering has occurred, stating,
Case law and the Department’s own regulations make clear that statements made without the intent to direct a client based on his race or the prevailing racial characteristics of a neighborhood do not constitute unlawful racial steering. The Department’s regulations emphasize that racial steering consists of discouragement, communication, or action “because of” race. A discriminatory action taken “‘because of’ a particular factor necessarily involves an intentional choice in which that factor plays some role in the [actor’s] thinking.”
Trainor ended by calling on the real estate industry to “revisit ethics training materials and reconsider public statements” around the topic.
In his comment on the letter, HUD Secretary Scott Turner called the Biden-era policy changes “an effort to implement diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) ideology.” He also said those changes had resulted in “less transparency” for both homebuyers and renters, as well as “threatened” real estate agents and brokers with “perceived liability” for providing information to their clients.
Inman reached out to NAR for a response to the letter and received the following statement:
We appreciate the ongoing dialogue and guidance from the administration on this important issue. As the leading voice for real estate professionals, the National Association of REALTORS® brings deep expertise in fair housing and how it is applied in practice every day. We are carefully reviewing the letter and its implications for our members and the consumers they serve. We look forward to continued engagement with the administration and other stakeholders to ensure clear guidance that supports both compliance and the ability of REALTORS® to effectively serve clients in every ZIP Code across the country.
In addition, the trade group said it would soon publish a more in-depth policy response.
