HUD to "Reinterpret" Obama Housing Discrimination Rule

Dr. Ben Carson, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), has announced his agency will "reinterpret" a controversial Obama-era housing rule regarding housing discrimination.

 

In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Dr. Carson stated the 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, which was introduced with the goal of forcing local governments to identify their efforts for reducing housing segregation or else risk losing federal block grants, did not properly address the subject of discrimination. Citing a 2015 Supreme Court decision finding that housing policies with disparate impact on black families violated the law, even in the absence of intent to discriminate, Dr. Carson reaffirmed his commitment to fair housing while questioning the effectiveness of the existing HUD rule, arguing that it added "extra manipulation and cost" to HUD’s policymaking and to the work of local governments trying to stay compliant with the rule.

 

"I probably am not going to mess with something the Supreme Court has weighed in on," Dr. Carson said. "In terms of interpreting what it means—that's where the concentration is going to be."

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