Overview

• On August 6 and 7, 2025, HUD sent letters dismissing its monitoring of the 2023 General Iron civil rights agreement and ending its investigation into aldermanic prerogative zoning practices.
• The agency reversed Biden-era findings to concentrate enforcement on explicit allegations of discrimination rather than influence local land-use policy.
• The General Iron agreement, negotiated by Mayor Lori Lightfoot to curb polluting operations in low-income South and West Side communities, will no longer be subject to federal oversight.
• HUD also closed its probe into aldermanic prerogative, which it found in 2023 had perpetuated segregation by blocking affordable housing in majority-white wards.
• Advocates including the Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance condemned the decision as an affront to the Fair Housing Act and are mobilizing local efforts to secure equitable zoning and enforcement.