Thomas Silverstein
@tsilverstein.bsky.social
Executive Director at @prrac.bsky.social; adjunct clinician; Wizards/Nats/LFC; crossword solver; early morning dog walker
You know you’re a houser who’s training for a marathon when you get through the podcasts that you had queued up in advance and Tax Credit Tuesday starts to auto-play @housingmark.bsky.social
January 17, 2026 at 7:24 PM
You know you’re a houser who’s training for a marathon when you get through the podcasts that you had queued up in advance and Tax Credit Tuesday starts to auto-play @housingmark.bsky.social
Wordle 1,673 4/6*
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January 17, 2026 at 11:20 AM
Wordle 1,673 4/6*
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Reposted by Thomas Silverstein
A book never feels real until you hold it in you hands. @profsorelle.bsky.social & I can now confirm that Uncivil Democracy is real! If you care about #peoplepower #housingjustice, #tenantorganizing & transforming our perverse political economy, this is a book for you.
Order here: bit.ly/3NLYCCw
Order here: bit.ly/3NLYCCw
January 16, 2026 at 6:40 PM
A book never feels real until you hold it in you hands. @profsorelle.bsky.social & I can now confirm that Uncivil Democracy is real! If you care about #peoplepower #housingjustice, #tenantorganizing & transforming our perverse political economy, this is a book for you.
Order here: bit.ly/3NLYCCw
Order here: bit.ly/3NLYCCw
Wordle 1,672 3/6*
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January 16, 2026 at 11:33 AM
Wordle 1,672 3/6*
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Whatever would the Dodgers have done if they hadn't signed Kyle Tucker? They were at risk of having such a talent deficit relative to the rest of baseball.
January 16, 2026 at 3:18 AM
Whatever would the Dodgers have done if they hadn't signed Kyle Tucker? They were at risk of having such a talent deficit relative to the rest of baseball.
Wordle 1,671 3/6*
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January 15, 2026 at 11:22 AM
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January 14, 2026 at 11:07 AM
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Reposted by Thomas Silverstein
More of Trump retribution agenda: Proposed rule to to weaken enforcement of Fair Housing Act out tomorrow. In midst of a housing crisis. Before he was a convicted felon Trump was a Fair Housing violator.
Today, the "day early" version of a proposed HUD rule to rescind the Department's existing disparate impact regulations appeared on the Federal Register website. It will be formally published in the Federal Register tomorrow, kicking off a 30-day comment period. Here's what that all means.
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Public Inspection: Implementation of the Fair Housing Act’s Disparate Impact Standard
Implementation of the Fair Housing Act’s Disparate Impact Standard
www.federalregister.gov
January 14, 2026 at 12:37 AM
More of Trump retribution agenda: Proposed rule to to weaken enforcement of Fair Housing Act out tomorrow. In midst of a housing crisis. Before he was a convicted felon Trump was a Fair Housing violator.
...that proves the opposite point: a robust and inclusive comment process is necessary because there is significant public interest in the subject matter of this rulemaking.
Anyhow, folks should submit comments (though the regulations.gov portal will not be up until tomorrow).
12/12
Anyhow, folks should submit comments (though the regulations.gov portal will not be up until tomorrow).
12/12
Regulations.gov
regulations.gov
January 13, 2026 at 4:32 PM
...that proves the opposite point: a robust and inclusive comment process is necessary because there is significant public interest in the subject matter of this rulemaking.
Anyhow, folks should submit comments (though the regulations.gov portal will not be up until tomorrow).
12/12
Anyhow, folks should submit comments (though the regulations.gov portal will not be up until tomorrow).
12/12
...deference than Chevron deference, but it isn't the total absence of deference.
Also, HUD purports to justify only allowing 30 days for public comment on the grounds that many comments have been submitted in past comment processes for the same overarching issue. One could easily argue...
11/
Also, HUD purports to justify only allowing 30 days for public comment on the grounds that many comments have been submitted in past comment processes for the same overarching issue. One could easily argue...
11/
January 13, 2026 at 4:30 PM
...deference than Chevron deference, but it isn't the total absence of deference.
Also, HUD purports to justify only allowing 30 days for public comment on the grounds that many comments have been submitted in past comment processes for the same overarching issue. One could easily argue...
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Also, HUD purports to justify only allowing 30 days for public comment on the grounds that many comments have been submitted in past comment processes for the same overarching issue. One could easily argue...
11/
What else of note is going on here?
Well, HUD claims that agency interpretations of statutes are entitled to no deferential weight after the Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright. That's just wrong. Loper Bright reinforced the existence of Skidmore deference. That's a lesser form of...
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Well, HUD claims that agency interpretations of statutes are entitled to no deferential weight after the Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright. That's just wrong. Loper Bright reinforced the existence of Skidmore deference. That's a lesser form of...
10/
January 13, 2026 at 4:29 PM
What else of note is going on here?
Well, HUD claims that agency interpretations of statutes are entitled to no deferential weight after the Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright. That's just wrong. Loper Bright reinforced the existence of Skidmore deference. That's a lesser form of...
10/
Well, HUD claims that agency interpretations of statutes are entitled to no deferential weight after the Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright. That's just wrong. Loper Bright reinforced the existence of Skidmore deference. That's a lesser form of...
10/
...how HUD will apply the Act when it is exercising its statutorily mandated enforcement role. Of course, civil rights and housing justice advocates have ample reason to be concerned that HUD will act lawlessly, if it even bothers to accept jurisdiction over disparate impact complaints.
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January 13, 2026 at 4:28 PM
...how HUD will apply the Act when it is exercising its statutorily mandated enforcement role. Of course, civil rights and housing justice advocates have ample reason to be concerned that HUD will act lawlessly, if it even bothers to accept jurisdiction over disparate impact complaints.
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...it is the role of the courts to interpret statutes, but that doesn't answer for how HUD will interpret and apply the Act in its own administrative enforcement proceedings.
The field is left with - or will be left with if the proposed rule is finalized and takes effect - uncertainty about...
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The field is left with - or will be left with if the proposed rule is finalized and takes effect - uncertainty about...
8/
January 13, 2026 at 4:26 PM
...it is the role of the courts to interpret statutes, but that doesn't answer for how HUD will interpret and apply the Act in its own administrative enforcement proceedings.
The field is left with - or will be left with if the proposed rule is finalized and takes effect - uncertainty about...
8/
The field is left with - or will be left with if the proposed rule is finalized and takes effect - uncertainty about...
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...White House's ideological opposition to disparate impact. The dodge of withdrawing from articulating a standard for disparate impact claims is an attempt at reconciling those tensions.
But it is also nonsensical. HUD can say as much as it wants that, after the demise of Chevron deference...
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But it is also nonsensical. HUD can say as much as it wants that, after the demise of Chevron deference...
7/
January 13, 2026 at 4:25 PM
...White House's ideological opposition to disparate impact. The dodge of withdrawing from articulating a standard for disparate impact claims is an attempt at reconciling those tensions.
But it is also nonsensical. HUD can say as much as it wants that, after the demise of Chevron deference...
7/
But it is also nonsensical. HUD can say as much as it wants that, after the demise of Chevron deference...
7/
...the standard rather than it being its role. The Department is seemingly aware that it is constrained from following in the CFPB's footsteps in light of a 2015 Supreme Court decision holding that the Fair Housing Act allows for disparate impact claims. At the same time, it isn't bucking the...
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January 13, 2026 at 4:23 PM
...the standard rather than it being its role. The Department is seemingly aware that it is constrained from following in the CFPB's footsteps in light of a 2015 Supreme Court decision holding that the Fair Housing Act allows for disparate impact claims. At the same time, it isn't bucking the...
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In a proposed rule published in November, the CFPB articulated the position (contrary to mountains of legislative history) that ECOA did not allow for disparate impact claims.
The position HUD is staking out here is essentially a dodge. The Department is saying it is the courts' role to set...
5/
The position HUD is staking out here is essentially a dodge. The Department is saying it is the courts' role to set...
5/
January 13, 2026 at 4:21 PM
In a proposed rule published in November, the CFPB articulated the position (contrary to mountains of legislative history) that ECOA did not allow for disparate impact claims.
The position HUD is staking out here is essentially a dodge. The Department is saying it is the courts' role to set...
5/
The position HUD is staking out here is essentially a dodge. The Department is saying it is the courts' role to set...
5/
It would have maintained the pretense that the disparate impact framework endured while making it functionally impossible for a plaintiff or complaint to ever prevail.
Also, HUD isn't taking the route taken by the CFPB with respect to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
4/
Also, HUD isn't taking the route taken by the CFPB with respect to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
4/
January 13, 2026 at 4:19 PM
It would have maintained the pretense that the disparate impact framework endured while making it functionally impossible for a plaintiff or complaint to ever prevail.
Also, HUD isn't taking the route taken by the CFPB with respect to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
4/
Also, HUD isn't taking the route taken by the CFPB with respect to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.
4/
Unlike in the first Trump Administration, HUD is not setting forth a standard for evaluating disparate impact claims. Back then, HUD issued a rule (subsequently enjoined by the courts) that would have made the disparate impact standard a nullity through a death by a thousand cuts approach.
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January 13, 2026 at 4:18 PM
Unlike in the first Trump Administration, HUD is not setting forth a standard for evaluating disparate impact claims. Back then, HUD issued a rule (subsequently enjoined by the courts) that would have made the disparate impact standard a nullity through a death by a thousand cuts approach.
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Like any proposed rule, the fact that HUD is proposing changes does not alter what the law is unless and until it is finalized. The HUD disparate impact rule that was originally promulgated during the Obama Administration and that was restored under Biden remains in effect.
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24 CFR § 100.500 - Discriminatory effect prohibited.
www.law.cornell.edu
January 13, 2026 at 4:16 PM
Like any proposed rule, the fact that HUD is proposing changes does not alter what the law is unless and until it is finalized. The HUD disparate impact rule that was originally promulgated during the Obama Administration and that was restored under Biden remains in effect.
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Today, the "day early" version of a proposed HUD rule to rescind the Department's existing disparate impact regulations appeared on the Federal Register website. It will be formally published in the Federal Register tomorrow, kicking off a 30-day comment period. Here's what that all means.
1/
1/
Public Inspection: Implementation of the Fair Housing Act’s Disparate Impact Standard
Implementation of the Fair Housing Act’s Disparate Impact Standard
www.federalregister.gov
January 13, 2026 at 4:14 PM
Today, the "day early" version of a proposed HUD rule to rescind the Department's existing disparate impact regulations appeared on the Federal Register website. It will be formally published in the Federal Register tomorrow, kicking off a 30-day comment period. Here's what that all means.
1/
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January 13, 2026 at 11:04 AM
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January 12, 2026 at 11:08 AM
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January 11, 2026 at 11:59 AM
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January 10, 2026 at 11:22 AM
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January 9, 2026 at 11:35 AM
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