The Department of Housing and Urban Development released its long-awaited “disparate impact” final rule last week, formalizing for the first time the long-held interpretation of the Fair Housing Act by HUD, which has repeatedly asserted that housing policies and practices can be determined to be discriminatory not simply through their intent, but also by their effect. “As we’ve learned over the years, housing discrimination comes in many forms. Discrimination doesn’t have to be intentional in order to have a damaging...