The Trump administration is making it easier to evade housing desegregation law,...
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The Trump administration is making it easier to evade housing desegregation law, triggering civil rights lawsuit https://interc.pt/2KL9hbT by @rmc031
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS MAKING IT EASIER TO EVADE HOUSING DESEGREGATION LAW, TRIGGERING CIVIL RIGHTS LAWSUIT
Rachel M. Cohen
May 8 2018, 4:59 p.m.
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION has illegally suspended a rule that requires local governments to show theyre working to reduce housing segregation, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and its secretary, Ben Carson.
HUD announced in early January that it would delay enforcing the rule. Civil rights advocates say the delay is an effective end to federal fair housing oversight over billions of dollars to be doled out to local governments for at least the next six years. They have also accused HUD of reducing the amount of support it offers local communities in implementing the desegregation rule, effectively sabotaging its success.
Decades of experience have shown that, left to their own devices, local jurisdictions will simply pocket federal funds and do little to further fair housing objectives, reads the complaint, which was filed by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; the American Civil Liberties Union; the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; Public Citizen; the Poverty & Race Research Action Council; and the law firm Relman, Dane & Colfax.
The rule in question is called
Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, or AFFH, which was finalized in 2015. It was designed to more effectively implement the integration mandates of the Fair Housing Act, a landmark civil rights statute passed a half-century ago to eradicate discrimination and segregation in housing. While jurisdictions that receive federal HUD funds have long had to certify that they are indeed working to reduce government-sponsored segregation, for decades HUD did little to ensure real steps were actually being taken.