The Department of Housing and Urban Development is working on a proposed regulation that seeks to harmonize existing standards for determining when a housing practice with a discriminatory impact violates the Fair Housing Act. The proposed rule would cover the liability standards in instances in which a racially neutral housing practice has a discriminatory effect. The disparate impact theory has been used in fair housing cases to allege discriminatory activity when the terms of a business policy are neutral toward protected classes but the policy is shown to have greater impact on minorities or other protected groups. There has been debate over...