Trump repeals Obama-era fair housing rule. What does this change mean?
The Trump administration on Thursday repealed an Obama-era fair housing rule aimed at trying to prevent racial discrimination in housing.
The change also comes after President Trump has accused presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden of planning to “totally destroy” suburbs due to his housing platform.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development said it was replacing the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule with its own rule.
“After reviewing thousands of comments on the proposed changes to the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) regulation, we found it to be unworkable and ultimately a waste of time for localities to comply with, too often resulting in funds being steered away from communities that need them most,” HUD Secretary Ben Carson said in a statement.
The Obama-era rule was implemented in 2015 and mandated that federal agencies have to ensure housing programs are administered “in a manner affirmatively to further” fair housing. It required jurisdictions to come up with a plan to reduce housing discrimination and made data available for this assessment.
The Trump administration suspended part of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule in 2018, telling cities that they no longer needed to abide by it, The New York Times reported.
The Trump administration’s rule, called Preserving Community and Neighborhood choice, defines fair housing as “affordable, safe, decent, free of unlawful discrimination, and accessible under civil rights laws.”
In June, Trump tweeted that the AFFH rule has a “devastating impact” on the suburbs.
“I am studying the AFFH housing regulation that is having a devastating impact on these once thriving Suburban areas,” Trump wrote.
Biden said on his website that he would re-implement AFFH as president.
Trump also tweeted out a New York Post opinion piece that criticized Biden’s housing policies.
“The Suburban Housewives of America must read this article,” Trump tweeted.
Suburban voters comprised 49% of the electorate in 2016 and Trump won the majority of suburban voters with 49 percent compared to 45 percent who voted for Hillary Clinton, according to CNN exit polls.
This story was originally published July 23, 2020 at 2:23 PM with the headline "Trump repeals Obama-era fair housing rule. What does this change mean?."