President Trump’s latest announcement regarding his plans for fair housing regulations came in the form of a Tuesday night tweet, Business Insider reported.
The president took aim at the Obama-era Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) mandate, which his administration had suspended in early 2018 until this year.
“At the request of many great Americans who live in the Suburbs, and others, I am studying the AFFH housing regulation that is having a devastating impact on these once thriving Suburban areas,” Trump tweeted. “Corrupt Joe Biden wants to make them MUCH WORSE. Not fair to homeowners, I may END!”
At the request of many great Americans who live in the Suburbs, and others, I am studying the AFFH housing regulation that is having a devastating impact on these once thriving Suburban areas. Corrupt Joe Biden wants to make them MUCH WORSE. Not fair to homeowners, I may END!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2020
The AFFH rule, established in 2015 to strengthen the Fair Housing Act of 1968, required local governments to track patterns of poverty and segregation with a checklist of 92 questions to gain access to federal housing funds. Implementation had just begun when the 2018 suspension took effect.
This January, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed an “improved” version of AFFH, which it said offered clearer guidance to states and local governments.
“Mayors know their communities best, so we are empowering them to make housing decisions that meet their unique needs, not a mandate from the federal government,” HUD secretary Ben Carson said at the time.
Fair housing advocates strongly criticized the proposal. “It significantly weakens fair housing compliance, entrenches segregated housing patterns, and continues the status quo in which some communities are strengthened by taxpayer-supported programs and amenities while other neighborhoods are starved and deprived of opportunities,” National Fair Housing Alliance president and CEO Lisa Rice told NBC News in January. [BI] — Kevin Sun