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It?s the latest in a string of attempts by Ben Carson and HUD to undermine Obama-era fair housing regulations Today, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) introduced a proposal that would overhaul the Disparate Impact rule, a 2013 regulation from the Obama administration that created uniform standards for the application of disparate impact?the idea that a policy can be discriminatory even if discrimination is not the policy?s intent?in housing discrimination lawsuits.
The new rule would dramatically shift the burden of proof to the plaintiff in housing discrimination cases, making such lawsuits ?impossible,? according to numerous fair housing advocates.
Courts have interpreted the Fair Housing Act to ban policies with a discriminatory disparate impact since it was passed in 1968, but with variations in its application. The new rule proposed by HUD, which will now undergo a 60-day comment period before being implemented, would make it much harder to bring housing discrimination cases to court. ?These changes are designed to make it much more difficult, if not impossible, for communities of color to challenge discriminatory effects in housing,? said Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. ?With this harmful proposal, the Trump administration continues its pattern of attempts to weaken and disrupt the federal government?s responsibility to uphold its fair housing obligations under the law.?
Under the c...