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Fair Housing Rules Upended by Trump Administration
By Fletcher Word
Sojourner’s Truth Editor
With November’s
presidential election just over three months away and the
incumbent sinking in the polls, particularly among groups
such as white suburbanites, Trump made a move last week to
court that voting bloc and officially dismantled an Obama
rule that had attempted to lessen the impact of decades of
racial segregation in this nation’s neighborhoods.
HUD Secretary Ben Carson
announced that his department is replacing the rule – the
Affirmatively Furthuring Fair Housing (AFFH) – with one to
lessen the standard for fair housing as access to an
affordable and safe residence.
In a statement Carson said
“We found it to be unworkable and ultimately a waste of time
for localities to comply with, too often resulting in funds
being steered away from communities that need them most.”
Carson’s move was not
likely to have much practical immediate impact because HUD
had already suspended enforcement of the AFFH rule in 2018,
but it is clearly a tactic to appeal to conservative
suburban voters.
Trump had laid the
groundwork for the HUD announcement when he assailed former
Vice President Joe Biden, likely Democratic nominee for
president, for wanting to “abolish” the suburbs and bring
“who knows who into your suburbs so your communities will be
unsafe and your housing values will go down.”
The Obama rule had
required local governments to make plans to correct housing
discrimination in order to receive certain federal funds.
The rule was implemented to address racial segregation that
has persisted in spite of the enactment of the Fair Housing
Act of 1968.
Home ownership is
considered to be the bedrock of American family household
wealth. According to statistics compiled by the Brookings
Institute, the average net worth of the typical white
American family is $171,000 compared to the average wealth
of a Black family of $17,150. The difference is in home
ownership rates and values and is the result of decades of
government policy that began in 1934 during the New Deal
when banks, in order to receive federal insurance to avoid
failure, wear instructed to restrict lending to Black
borrowers.
Under the AFFH, localities
receiving federal assistance were required to take
meaningful actions to undo decades of federal, state and
local discriminatory policies that resulted in the creation
of segregated, under-resourced communities. They must also
ensure that neighborhoods have equal access to high quality
schools, healthy food, clean air and water, reliable
transportation, quality healthcare facilities and other
community resources and amenities.
The Fair Housing Center
reacted immediately with a statement condemning the relaxed
provisions enacted by HUD.
Marie Flannery, president
and CEO of The Fair Housing Center issued the following
statement:
“For decades, redlining systematically blocked people of
color from homeownership and contributed to disinvestment in
racially diverse neighborhoods, the effect of which can
still be seen today. We cannot create communities that are
truly inclusive without recognizing and correcting the
discriminatory practices that led to racially exclusive
neighborhoods. It’s unconscionable that HUD – the entity
charged with enforcing the Fair Housing Act – would allow
communities to maintain policies that restrict equal access
to housing.
“HUD’s new rule gutting AFFH regulations amounts to
government-sanctioned segregation. The Fair Housing Center
joins fair housing and civil rights advocates across the
country in condemning this policy change that will further
perpetuate longstanding racial inequities.
“This decision is a devastating step backward in the civil
rights movement and contradicts the basic principle that the
American Dream should be accessible to all.”
Odette Williamson, staff attorney and director of the Racial
Justice and Equal Economic Opportunity Project at the
National Consumer Law Center said: “The Affirmatively
Furthering Fair Housing provision of the long-standing Fair
Housing Act is needed to dismantle decades of
government-sponsored discrimination that led to segregation
and disinvestment in healthcare, housing, education and
other essential services in Black communities and other
communities of color. The disparate impact on highly
segregated Black communities that were historically redlined
still plays out today as Black families bore the brunt of
early infections and death due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This unacceptable action is yet another attempt by the Trump
administration to roll back hard-won civil rights
protections that provide housing opportunities to people who
have been excluded from highly resourced communities.”
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