Press Release: 6/4/2026

Fair Housing Agencies Thank Healey-Driscoll Administration, Legislative Leaders for Fair Housing Fund Awards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:

Vineeth Hemavathi

Executive Director

Massachusetts Fair Housing Center

vhemavathi@massfairhousing.org

 

First Round of Awards Will Take Key Action to Fight Housing Discrimination

Holyoke, MA

— The Massachusetts Fair Housing Center, SouthCoast Fair Housing, the Center

for Housing Justice & Policy, and Community Legal Aid, the Commonwealth’s four fair housing

agencies, applaud the Healey-Driscoll Administration, the Executive Office of Housing and

Livable Communities (EOHLC), and legislative leaders for the issuance of the first awards from

the Fair Housing Trust Fund, from which each organization received an approximate $200,000

allocation. Established through the 2024 Affordable Homes Act, the Fund was first seeded

through a supplemental budget in 2025, supported by allocations in both the House and Senate.

The $1 million allocated will be critical in supporting work to combat housing discrimination

through education and outreach, fair housing testing, and legal advocacy to ensure that all

Massachusetts residents have fair and equal access to stable, affordable housing.

Discrimination remains an immense barrier to access housing for many residents due to race,

disability, immigration status, source of income, and many more classes that are protected by

Massachusetts law.

“We share deep gratitude to the Healey-Driscoll Administration - particularly our partners in the

Executive Office of Housing and Liveable Communities and the Office of Fair Housing - for their

leadership in issuing these awards at a critical time for our organizations,

” said Vineeth

Hemavathi, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Fair Housing Center.

“These dollars will

directly support residents in availing themselves of the rights that they are granted under state

and federal law. Massachusetts has long been a leader in fair housing policy - but without

enforcement, these rights are lost for too many individuals seeking stable housing in a turbulent

market.

”

Massachusetts is home to four organizations engaged in fair housing enforcement, who are

collectively the largest private enforcers of fair housing law in the state and have been working

together as the Fair Housing Alliance of Massachusetts (FHAM) to combat housing voucher

discrimination statewide. Amid grant instability and impending funding losses, including the end

of federal passthrough dollars for housing voucher discrimination efforts beginning in 2027,Massachusetts’s four fair housing organizations are facing challenges maintaining services for

residents as the demand for fair housing resources persists. These awards represent the first

official statewide investment in fair housing from the Fair Housing Fund to support sustained

enforcement of fair housing law and initiatives.

“Last summer, support from both the House and Senate to seed the Fair Housing Fund during a

time of severe uncertainty for this work brought hope to each of our organizations and the

communities we serve,

” Kristina da Fonseca, Executive Director of SouthCoast Fair Housing,

stated.

“As we continue to weather challenges that impact our ability to support our communities

and ensure that fair housing law is being upheld, we are grateful to leaders in both the

legislature and the Administration who will continue to fight with us to ensure the longevity of

this work.

”

“As housing providers increasingly rely on automated systems, discrimination is taking new

forms that are harder to detect,

” said Jamie Langowski, Executive Director of the Center for

Housing Justice & Policy.

“This funding from the Fair Housing Trust allows us to investigate how

AI may be screening out renters with vouchers and to develop policy solutions that ensure

technology does not become a new barrier to fair housing.

”

The four fair housing enforcement organizations received nearly 80% of the awards from the

Fair Housing Fund, whose seed money was entirely spent in this round of awards. The

organizations continue to call on state leaders to sustain investments in state fair housing work

amid funding gaps and loss of resources to build upon current investments.