The Equal Rights Center

Get ready for the 5th Annual Arlington Fair Housing Conference! Join us for three virtual events between Sept. 14 and Oct. 26, including a Know Your Rights webinar from the ERC. Learn all about the state of fair housing in Arlington County, VA, and current efforts to advance protections. Register:

Housing - NAACP Arlington Branch Virginia is under new leadership—and with it comes a renewed commitment to fighting housing discrimination. Join the NAACP Arlington Branch, Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME) of Virginia, and the Equal Rights Center for the 5th Annual Arlington Fair Housing Conference, a series of three virt...

5th Annual Arlington Fair Housing Conference - Virtual Events – September 14th, October 5th, and October 26th

Virginia is under new leadership—and with it comes a renewed commitment to fighting housing discrimination. Join the NAACP Arlington Branch, Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME) of Virginia, and the Equal Rights Center for the 5th Annual Arlington Fair Housing Conference, a series of three virtual events. You'll hear about the fair housing work of the Virginia Office of the Attorney General and Arlington County's progress in advancing fair and equitable housing for all.

https://arlingtonnaacp.com/housing

"When accessible housing is unavailable, people are forced to remain in unsafe living situations, enter nursing homes prematurely, or even face homelessness." The Fair Housing Act and ADA have required accessible housing for decades, but laws alone aren't enough. It takes enforcement to turn those requirements into reality.

The Accessibility Rules Were There. The Enforcement Wasn’t. — Shelterforce Federal accessibility requirements are only as effective as the local governments responsible for enforcing them.

After a six-week longevity leave, ERC Executive Director Kate Scott returned to an organization that kept the work moving forward in her absence. In her latest newsletter, Kate reflects on that experience through Ella Baker's idea of "group-centered" leadership and what that demands of organizations like the ERC. Read more:

Who Gets to Lead? Earlier this month, I returned to work after six weeks of longevity leave. There are plenty of things I could say about the experience of stepping away from work for that long.

"Documentation status doesn’t tell you anything about how a person is going to be as a tenant or a homebuyer." A new bill would make it illegal for housing providers to treat prospective tenants differently based on citizenship or immigration status in Montgomery County, MD. A public hearing is tentatively scheduled for September 15.

New bill would ban housing discrimination against immigrants, noncitizens Councilmember Mink says documentation 'doesn’t tell you anything about how a person is going to be as a tenant or a homebuyer'

For decades, HUD has funded fair housing groups like ERC to fight discrimination. Last month, they published major changes that "will promote the Administration’s personal preferences rather than Congress's intent to prevent and remedy the very real housing discrimination millions in our country suffer every year."

Fair Housing Groups Sue HUD Over Funding Changes (Gift Article) A shift in grant requirements would curtail fair housing investigations, according to a new lawsuit.

For Disability Pride Month, Executive Director Kate Scott shares her reaction to the DOJ's recent Olmstead memo, and speaks to why community integration for people with disabilities cannot be taken for granted this month and beyond.
Read more:

The Right to Belong—and How We Intend to Defend It There are certain civil rights victories that become so foundational that most people stop thinking about them. The idea that disabled people should be able to live, work, and participate fully in their communities is one of them.

In 2025, we conducted 780 civil rights tests to identify possible discrimination. Civil rights testing is our core strategy for identifying unlawful discrimination. When we identify discrimination, we seek to eliminate it by using testing data to educate the public and business community, support policy advocacy, conduct compliance testing and training, and, if necessary, take enforcement action. Read more about our 2025 highlights in our annual report: https://equalrightscenter.org/news-posts/annual-report-2025/