The feds dismantle the housing rule against discrimination

The new Department of Housing and Urban Development plan, announced Thursday, requires a HUD grant applicant to self-certify that they are doing something, rather than nothing, to promote fair housing. The rule says applicants “generally … must take an active role rather than a passive one.”

Gone is the evaluation of 92 questions that the Obama administration instituted in 2015 to determine compliance, as well as Clinton-era requirements that local authorities discuss “impediments to choosing fair housing within their jurisdiction,” then do something to respect and inform HUD.

The administration has already suspended the requirements for localities to use the 2015 assessment.

The new rule disembowels those requirements, in the direction of the president.

HUD Secretary Ben Carson, who criticized the Obama-era rule at his confirmation hearing, unveiled a less extensive proposal in January to water down those requirements.

“However, when the President reviewed the proposed rule, he expressed concern that HUD’s approach did not go far enough,” says the new rule.

Critics said the reversal removes racial protections.

The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law said it will “gut any oversight of state and local government compliance with fair housing laws.”

The National Low Income Housing Coalition said the protections are “necessary 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 in color”.

But HUD said its new rule “gives local communities maximum flexibility to design and implement robust policies that respond to unique local needs, and eliminates overly burdensome, intrusive and inconsistent reporting and monitoring requirements.”

The new rule takes effect immediately and does not require a public comment period, HUD said.