Civil Penalties for Fair Housing Act Violations

On December 18, 1997, HUD published for public comment a proposed rule that would amend HUD's regulations governing hearing procedures for civil rights matters to clarify that, in a given case, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) may, and in appropriate circumstances should, assess more than one civil penalty against a given respondent, where the respondent has committed separate and distinct acts of discrimination. The rule also proposed to amend these regulations to describe how ALJs are to consider housing-related hate acts under the six factors ALJs apply in determining the amount of a civil penalty to assess against a respondent found to have committed a discriminatory housing practice. This interim rule makes effective the amendments in the December 18, 1997 proposed rule, takes into consideration the public comments received on the proposed rule, and solicits additional public comments on the rule. All public comments will be taken into consideration in the development of the final rule.