The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has launched a sweeping civil rights investigation into the city of Boston, accusing Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration of implementing housing policies that unlawfully favor black, Latino, and other minority residents. The probe, announced Thursday, represents one of the most aggressive federal interventions yet in the Trump administration’s broader effort to dismantle local diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives it argues violate anti-discrimination law.

In a sharply worded letter to Wu, HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity said, “The context of race, fair housing is not about ‘the absence of racial discrimination . . . but the presence of deliberate systems . . . to achieve and sustain racial equity.’ But this is wrong. The text of the Fair Housing Act is unmistakably focused on eliminating discrimination in the housing market and outlining the penalties for engaging in this kind of discrimination.”

Assistant Secretary Craig Trainor wrote to Wu, “At your office’s direction, however, City officials have set out to smuggle ‘racial equity into every layer of operations in City government.’” The letter added, “City Officials Have Enthusiastically Embraced and Appear to Have Implemented the City’s Proposed Racial Spoils System.”

HUD Secretary Scott Turner echoed that language, calling Boston’s approach a “social engineering project” driven by DEI ideology rather than legitimate housing needs. “This warped mentality will be fully exposed,” Turner said, vowing the city would be brought into compliance with federal law. Turner has previously criticized what he calls race-based policymaking and, earlier this week, blamed former President Joe Biden for housing pressures tied to immigration, citing HUD’s newly released “Worst Case Housing Needs” report.

Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships

At issue are several city housing plans—most notably the Boston Housing Strategy 2025, the Assessment of Fair Housing, and the Anti-Displacement Action Plan—which call for targeted outreach to black and Latino families, increased lending in communities of color, and allocations of homeownership opportunities intended “particularly” for BIPOC households. One goal states that 65 percent of city-supported homeownership opportunities should go to BIPOC residents. HUD argues that these provisions constitute explicit racial preferences prohibited under federal civil rights law and past Supreme Court precedent that rejects “outright racial balancing.”

HUD’s letter also criticizes Boston’s use of racially based data tools, including maps that classify neighborhoods partly by racial composition to identify areas at “high risk” of displacement and thus eligible for more city investment. The department said these classifications revive the logic of “government-sponsored redlining,” even if intended to combat inequity. It further alleges that city agencies and nonprofit partners have implemented “race-conscious marketing and buyer selection,” and that Boston has pressured banks and developers to adopt race-based benchmarks.

The investigation reflects the Trump administration’s broader shift in civil rights enforcement, which has increasingly targeted DEI programs while cutting back on traditional fair housing oversight.

HUD will request documents from the city within 10 days, after which investigators may file formal discrimination charges or refer the case to the Justice Department.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt answered questions on affordability and inflation during a sometimes contentious press briefing on Thursday.

“Every economic metric does in fact show that the economy is getting better and brighter than where it was under the previous administration,” Leavitt noted at the top of the briefing prior to taking questions.

Eric Bolling of Real America’s Voice kicked off the questioning, pointing to declining energy prices.

“Energy prices have been coming down aggressively since Trump’s second term with $55 per barrel and gas prices under $3 for the first time in the past five years,” Bolling began. “Some people in this room want to call this an affordability crisis right now, seeming to want to forget four years prior when we hit 9% inflation. That’s an affordability crisis, but we weren’t calling it that back then. How will President Trump ensure that the legacy media does not flip the script?”

Leavitt responded, calling the media’s coverage of affordability under the Trump administration “a point of frustration” for both herself and the president.

“It’s a great question, Eric,” she said. “It is part of the reason I kicked off this briefing today, setting the record straight with facts about the economic mess that the president inherited from his predecessor Joe Biden.”

Leavitt called affordability a top priority for President Trump, offering several figures to demonstrate her point.

Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships

“Inflation has slowed to an average 2.5% pace; real wages are increasing roughly $1,200 for the average worker; gas prices are down in almost every single state across the country, in 22 states, it’s below $2.75; the tax cuts will go into effect next year; the best is yet to come, and the president is digging the country out of the economic hole that the previous administration put us in.”

A separate and somewhat heated exchange came during questioning from CNN’s Kaitlin Collins, who asked, “If the economy is as strong as the president has said it is, then why is he telling parents two to three weeks before Christmas that they should only buy two or three dolls for their children?”

Leavitt responded, noting the president’s intention to bring manufacturing back to the United States: “Maybe you’ll pay a dollar or two more, but you will get better quality and you’ll be supporting your fellow Americans by buying American.”

Collins followed up by challenging Leavitt on inflation — but the press secretary pushed back sharply.

“There’s a lot more scrutiny on this issue from this press corps,” responded Leavitt. “My predecessor stood up at this podium and she said inflation doesn’t exist. She said the border was secure, and people like you just took her at her word. Those were two utter lies. Everything I’m telling you is the truth backed by my real, factual data, and you just don’t want to report on it because you want to push untrue narratives about the president.”

Leavitt said she wishes “more people would remind the American public of how we got here and why.”

“It does not mean the president is discarding the American people’s feelings. The president gets it better than anyone, which is why his entire administration has been focused on the economy and energy prices since day one.”

She went on to describe Democrats as “the greatest con artists in history” who are “trying to claim ownership of an issue that they created.”

Reporters also asked three separate questions about the selection of the next Federal Reserve Chair. Leavitt did not reveal when the announcement would be made, but reiterated that President Trump has long called for rate cuts.

“I think the president has been quite clear about what he believes the Fed should be doing, which is lowering interest rates,” said Leavitt. She added that the president was pleased with the quarter point cut this week, but thinks “more should be done.”