The Resurrection of Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing

Vanessa Brown CalderAffirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH), a controversial Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rule first introduced by the Obama administration, is being resurrected by Biden ’s HUD.The history of AFFH is winding, and the rule has been through various evolutions since its introduction. Under Secretary Castro, AFFH was proposed in 2013 and gradually revised through a public comment process. Thefinalized 2015 rule created various reporting and planning requirements intended to ensure that program participants were taking steps to “affirmatively further fair housing” through “overcom[ing] historic patterns of segregation” and “achiev[ing] truly balanced and integrated living patterns,” among other objectives.Before the Republican presidential primaries, Ben Carson publiclycriticized AFFH, and shortly after Carson assumed office as Secretary, HUD suspended the rule under his guidance. This move resulted in legal action, with civil rights groups bringing a suit against HUD, which a judge laterdismissed.After suspending the rule, Carson looked for a replacement and proposed one intended to streamline reporting requirements and encourage local deregulation in 2019, following complaints that the requirements were costly and feedback that local deregulation would do more to reduce segregation and approve affordability than anything else. But by 2020, President Trump was attacking AFFH from hisTwitter account,...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs