The Arc has joined over 570 organizations, led by the National Fair Housing Alliance, calling on U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Dr. Ben Carson to retain references to creating “inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination” in the agency’s mission statement. Last week, 164 national organizations – including The Arc – and 409 state and local groups sent a letter to Secretary Carson following news accounts alleging that HUD is contemplating amending its mission statement to remove this language.

“Across the United States, people with disabilities face a crisis when it comes to inclusive, affordable, and accessible housing in the community. Discrimination continues to be a major barrier: over half of fair housing claims filed in 2017 involved discrimination on the basis of disability. Many people with disabilities also face multiple barriers to housing based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, and religion, or familial status.

“The Arc has been alarmed by recent news reports that HUD may be considering removing anti-discrimination language from its mission statement. We hope this is not the case. Removing this language would send the wrong message. We call on Secretary Carson to keep inclusion and freedom from discrimination front and center in all of HUD’s work, and to retain this important anti-discrimination language in HUD’s mission statement,” said Marty Ford, Senior Executive Officer, Public Policy, The Arc.