Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson moved Monday to overhaul a major Obama-era fair housing rule, aiming to shift the focus of the policy from discouraging segregation to increasing the housing supply and boosting affordability.
Carson said that the rule, written in 2015 and heralded by civil rights groups, is “actually suffocating investment in some of our most distressed neighborhoods that need our investment the most.”
“We do not have to abandon communities in need,” Carson said in a statement. “Instead we believe we can craft a new, fairer rule that creates choices for quality housing across all communities.”
The rule in question, known as Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, implemented part of the 1968 Fair Housing Act that required local governments to demonstrate that they were actively removing discriminatory and segregatory features of their housing markets.
The rule spelled out a process for cities and counties to demonstrate that they were in compliance with the law, identifying specific problems that needed to be addressed, with the implicit premise that HUD funds for projects in the area could be withdrawn if the changes weren’t made.
Under the revised plan, funding instead could be in danger if the communities do not aim to lessen housing regulations. Carson has argued that local zoning codes and land use regulations that make it harder to build have made housing more expensive.
The first step, laid out Monday by HUD, is to seek public comment on revising the rule with an eye toward lessening regulations and increasing the supply. The agency is slated to accept comments for the next two months.
