“American suburbs are a shining example of the American Dream, where people can live in their own homes, in safe, pleasant neighborhoods,” HUD Secretary Ben Carson said in the release. “We have already seen jurisdictions make strong progress promoting fair housing at the local level, and they will continue to do so without complicated certification processes from Washington that would inevitably lead to blanket national policies on intimate local issues. As it turns out, our founders had some good ideas when they set up our government — we just need to listen to them. Washington has no business dictating what is best to meet your local community’s unique needs.”
Last month, HUD announced it would terminate a fair housing rule launched under the administration of former President Barack Obama.
The Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) regulation issued in 2015 will be replaced by a new rule called Preserving Community and Neighborhood Choice.
Rep. Fred Keller (R-Pa.) said in a statement, “Rolling back the AFFH rule gets government out of the way, eliminates costly Washington mandates, and supports local control of neighborhood development.”
The new rule defines fair housing broadly to mean housing that, among other attributes, is affordable, safe, decent, free of unlawful discrimination, and accessible under civil rights laws. It then defines “affirmatively furthering fair housing” to mean any action rationally related to promoting any of the above attributes of fair housing.
Under the new rule, a grantee’s certification that it has affirmatively furthered fair housing will be deemed sufficient if it proposes to take any action above what is required by statute related to promoting any of the attributes of fair housing. HUD remains able to later terminate funding if it discovers, after investigation made pursuant to complaint or by its own volition, that a jurisdiction has not adhered to its commitment to AFFH.
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