After the Trump administration moved to delay a controversial fair housing rule, key Democrats quickly came out criticizing the action.
Earlier this year, Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said that HUD will look to “reinterpret” a controversial fair housing rule issued by the Obama administration in 2015.
The rule in question is the “final rule” on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, which requires that cities and towns that receive federal funding to examine their local housing patterns for racial bias and to design a plan to address any measurable bias.
In a move that prominent Democrats and fair housing experts are calling disastrous for the AFFH rule, HUD is delaying the deadline for local governments to submit their fair housing evaluations by one year.
And now, more Democrats are speaking out against the delay of the rule, including Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services Maxine Waters, D-Calif.
“The Trump Administration’s move to delay the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule is a flagrant attack on efforts to ensure fair housing opportunities for all people, including minorities, women, families with children and persons with disabilities,” Waters said. “The Fair Housing Act requires that federal agencies and recipients of federal housing funds take proactive steps to affirmatively further fair housing, in order to help remedy years of government-supported segregation and inequality.”
Waters stressed that the rule must not be delayed or weakened, saying it supports investment in high poverty areas and in opportunities for mobility.
Waters also took a personal shot at President Donald Trump, saying he himself was once charged with discrimination.
“Let’s not forget that Donald Trump and his father once ran afoul of the Fair Housing Act, and were charged with discriminating against African American and Puerto Rican renters,” Waters said. “It comes as no surprise that Trump and his HUD Secretary have disgracefully declared war on fair housing and efforts to prevent discrimination.”
But Waters wasn’t the only Democrat to come out against the delay. Click here to see the response from former HUD Secretary Julián Castro.
HUD previously explained it is still committed to the rule, but is implementing the delay while it invests human and technical resources toward improving the Assessment of Fair Housing tool.
