Swordsmyth
05-19-2018, 11:36 PM
The Trump administration is doubling down on its efforts to undo Obama-era fair-housing policies in the wake of a lawsuit (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/hud-secretary-ben-carson-to-be-sued-for-suspending-obama-era-fair-housing-rule/2018/05/07/ef72db8a-523c-11e8-a551-5b648abe29ef_story.html?utm_term=.2ee8ec97e02f) alleging that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development had wrongfully suspended a requirement that communities address barriers to racial integration.
HUD on Friday evening announced that it is withdrawing a computer assessment tool (https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/FR-Notice-AFFH-Withdrawal-of-Local-Government-Assessment-Tool.pdf) that provides communities with data and maps to help them gauge neighborhood segregation (https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/national/segregation-us-cities/?utm_term=.b7ab3e492294).
The tool, developed during the Obama administration, was meant to help communities comply with a little-enforced provision of the 1968 Fair Housing Act that compelled local governments to use federal dollars to end residential segregation.
But HUD on Friday said the tool was “confusing, difficult to use, and frequently produced unacceptable assessments.”
“We believe in furthering fair housing choice in our neighborhoods, but we have to help, not hinder those who have to put our rules into practice,” Anna Maria Farías, HUD’s assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity, said in a statement. “We must make certain that our tools can facilitate the goals we all share — to build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination.”
A 2015 rule required more than 1,200 communities receiving federal housing dollars to use the tool to assess local segregation patterns and draft a plan to correct them — or risk losing HUD funding.
The tool contained questions for local governments to answer, by referring to the data and maps provided by HUD, about policies and practices that influence housing patterns. In addition to analyzing residential segregation, communities were supposed to examine areas of poverty concentrated by race as well as disparities in accessing jobs and quality schools.
HUD Secretary Ben Carson had suspended that rule in January, prompting the lawsuit last week by a coalition of fair-housing advocates.
The agency says it is now seeking public input on how local governments could best promote fair housing choices while it reviews how it could make the assessment tool “less burdensome.”
In conjunction with removing the tool, the agency said it would also withdraw its January suspension of the 2015 requirement (https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/FR-Notice-AFFH-Withdawal-of-Extension-Notice.pdf) that communities submit their assessments of racial segregation to the agency in the manner and timeline outlined by the Obama administration.
Fair-housing advocates said the agency’s move to withdraw the tool is simply another way for HUD to suspend communities’ obligation to examine and fix residential segregation.
“They’re trying to achieve the same goal, just through a different avenue,” said Lisa Rice, president and chief executive of the National Fair Housing Alliance, one of three housing advocacy groups that filed the lawsuit. “They’re trying to get out from under the lawsuit. Instead of suspending the rule, they’re making the tool that communities use to follow the rule null and void.”
More at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/05/19/hud-secretary-ben-carson-doubles-down-on-dismantling-obama-era-fair-housing-policies/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.8bac7209f441
HUD on Friday evening announced that it is withdrawing a computer assessment tool (https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/FR-Notice-AFFH-Withdrawal-of-Local-Government-Assessment-Tool.pdf) that provides communities with data and maps to help them gauge neighborhood segregation (https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/national/segregation-us-cities/?utm_term=.b7ab3e492294).
The tool, developed during the Obama administration, was meant to help communities comply with a little-enforced provision of the 1968 Fair Housing Act that compelled local governments to use federal dollars to end residential segregation.
But HUD on Friday said the tool was “confusing, difficult to use, and frequently produced unacceptable assessments.”
“We believe in furthering fair housing choice in our neighborhoods, but we have to help, not hinder those who have to put our rules into practice,” Anna Maria Farías, HUD’s assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity, said in a statement. “We must make certain that our tools can facilitate the goals we all share — to build inclusive and sustainable communities free from discrimination.”
A 2015 rule required more than 1,200 communities receiving federal housing dollars to use the tool to assess local segregation patterns and draft a plan to correct them — or risk losing HUD funding.
The tool contained questions for local governments to answer, by referring to the data and maps provided by HUD, about policies and practices that influence housing patterns. In addition to analyzing residential segregation, communities were supposed to examine areas of poverty concentrated by race as well as disparities in accessing jobs and quality schools.
HUD Secretary Ben Carson had suspended that rule in January, prompting the lawsuit last week by a coalition of fair-housing advocates.
The agency says it is now seeking public input on how local governments could best promote fair housing choices while it reviews how it could make the assessment tool “less burdensome.”
In conjunction with removing the tool, the agency said it would also withdraw its January suspension of the 2015 requirement (https://www.hudexchange.info/resources/documents/FR-Notice-AFFH-Withdawal-of-Extension-Notice.pdf) that communities submit their assessments of racial segregation to the agency in the manner and timeline outlined by the Obama administration.
Fair-housing advocates said the agency’s move to withdraw the tool is simply another way for HUD to suspend communities’ obligation to examine and fix residential segregation.
“They’re trying to achieve the same goal, just through a different avenue,” said Lisa Rice, president and chief executive of the National Fair Housing Alliance, one of three housing advocacy groups that filed the lawsuit. “They’re trying to get out from under the lawsuit. Instead of suspending the rule, they’re making the tool that communities use to follow the rule null and void.”
More at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/05/19/hud-secretary-ben-carson-doubles-down-on-dismantling-obama-era-fair-housing-policies/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.8bac7209f441