U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development agency (HUD) has eliminated the federal regulations that were created under Obama’s administration. Secretary Scott Turner had accused them of placing “extreme and restricting demands” on housing developers in their localities.
Donald Trump has revoked the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule created by former president Barack Obama during his first term. Trump stated at that time, in a speech on cutting the red tape of the federal government, that the AFFH rule served to “eliminate the single-family zone to destroy the values of houses” to the benefit of the “far-left Washington Bureaucrats.”
Politico reports that the then-president Joe Biden tried to restore the rule but backed down out of fear he would be politically exposed as he ran for reelection. HUD launched its rulemaking on Wednesday to eliminate the Obama-era AFFH Rule, which required localities to commission comprehensive analyses to certify new housing developments that did not worsen disparities between federally protected communities. Access to transportation is also included, as are hospitals, parks, and schools.
A HUD official stated that the Fair Housing Act of 68 will continue to prohibit discrimination. Localities can now self-certify their compliance with the anti-discrimination law implemented by the Fair Housing Act of 1968.
Turner stated that Democrats on the far left have been trying to socially engineer communities since the Obama Administration.
The federal government has made extreme demands that are a drain on local budgets and paperwork.
Turner said that by reducing this regulation, the federal government would be better able to serve “rural, urban, and tribal communities who need fair and affordable housing.”
The Cato Institute, a libertarian-leaning think tank, found in a study that Obama’s AFFH regulation cost the taxpayers up to $55 million per year for the collection of the required certification information.
