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An Indiana housing organization is facing funding uncertainty after an estimated $30,000 in federal grant funding was slashed amid the sweeping cuts happening under the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
On Feb. 27, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development sent letters to 66 fair housing centers in 33 states saying they would not receive the remaining funds from the annual allotment of the Fair Housing Initiatives Program. Many of these nonprofits provide advocacy, enforcement, education and outreach, counseling, and training to protect tenants and buyers from discrimination or segregation.
That included Indianapolis-based Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana. In late February, as part of the DOGE cuts, the federal housing department terminated what remained of a $139,000 grant awarded to the center—a loss of about $30,000, estimated Executive Director Amy Nelson.
The state’s only fair-housing center planned to use those funds to support investigations involving topics including mortgage lending, homeowners insurance and tenant screening barriers, Nelson told IBJ. The Fair Housing Center publishes the results of these investigations in periodic reports.
Further, Nelson said her organization has already spent much of the grant, which is intended to reimburse expenditures and was expected to last through June.
Nelson fears that there might be cuts to additional funding HUD was set to dole out this summer. Her organization applied for $840,000 from the same program, but it’s unsure if those funds are now frozen.
Nelson said the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana directly interacted with 19,000 people in 2024. It took in 1,801 clients, the most since it opened in 2012. Staffers also reviewed 678 claims of discrimination, mostly from people with disabilities.
If the cuts continue, Nelson said there isn’t an alternative place for people to go with those concerns. Funding from the federal government accounts for about 85% of the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana’s budget.
“Heaven forbid, but if we were to not get funding for the 2025 to 2026 year—that’s the funding we have not heard about yet, and typically, we would have heard by now—that would really be an extreme loss to us,” she told IBJ.
The center might be eligible for relief from a pending complaint that four housing agencies filed March 13. The complaint seeks to create a class-action lawsuit.
First, the court must determine whether the parties involved constitute a “class” in size and similarity in claims against the Department of Government Efficiency and the federal housing department. If the class is approved, all impacted parties could opt-in, including the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana.
The complaint says the move to eliminate funding for these organizations has had an “immediate and devastating impact.” The suit argues the Elon Musk-run DOGE does not have the authority to direct the federal housing department to cancel grants and seeks to have the funds reinstated.
Currently, the DOGE touts identifying $115 billion in savings, but media outlets have reported the actual number is much lower. White House communications staff say Musk is an adviser to Trump rather than an employee for DOGE despite being a figurehead for the effort.
More than 100 lawsuits have been filed related to Trump administration actions, according to Court Watch. Laid-off federal employees, nonprofits, refugee centers and organizations promoting diversity, equity and inclusion are among the plaintiffs.
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