The Department of Housing and Urban Development released an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) to reconsider HUD’s implementation of the Affirmatively Further Fair Housing (AFFH) rule.
Jesse Van Tol, CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, made the following statement:
“We’re all for ideas to remove obstacles to inclusive communities, including regulatory burdens that stand in the way of desegregation. But we’re concerned that HUD is taking action to remove regulations, while not meaningfully addressing America’s deep problems of segregation and inequality. HUD’s announcement doesn’t appear to be a step forward. It sounds like a step backwards to the world prior to the 2015 rule.
“I worry those who call the AFFH rule burdensome are simply avoiding their duty to meaningfully examine and address the lack of basic resources such as decent housing, reliable and safe transportation systems, functional public education, clean water and fresh food in our historically neglected communities.
“Secretary Carson has said he wants to use this rulemaking process to address the nation’s affordable housing crisis. That’s a real crisis, HUD should be working on it and we’re glad to see it’s on the agency’s agenda. But HUD shouldn’t drop or avoid its obligation to address segregation, which is a different problem and one that remains unsolved a half-century after the passage of the Fair Housing Act. That’s what the 2015 AFFH rule was all about and we continue to object to HUD’s suspension of that rule.”
