CityLab: Ben Carson’s new push against fair-housing rules has a NIMBY twist

On Monday, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced that it aims to “streamline and enhance” an Obama-era rule on desegregation—the same rule that HUD Secretary Ben Carson once described as “social engineering.” If this sounds familiar, you’re right: It’s the third time this year that the department has taken aim at the rule.

This time, though, HUD is adopting a novel framework for rolling back its rule on desegregation: Carson is pitching this rule change as a way to fend off NIMBYism. The secretary wants to use the power of the purse to ease exclusionary zoning and build up to address housing affordability. But many critics—including those who might otherwise applaud any efforts to undercut the restrictive zoning rules that make multi-family housing so difficult to build in many areas—are questioning HUD’s motives. Even some Republican members of Congress may take exception to Carson’s plans to change how the rule works (instead of just getting rid of it).

“We’re all for ideas to remove obstacles to inclusive communities, including regulatory burdens that stand in the way of desegregation,” said Jesse Van Tol, CEO for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, in a statement. “But we’re concerned that HUD is taking action to remove regulations, while not meaningfully addressing America’s deep problems of segregation and inequality.”