The rule requires cities to address policies that might unintentionally lead to segregation Fresh off a failed attempt to delay a rule designed to give Section 8 housing voucher recipients more choice in where to live, Ben Carson and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced Friday that it?s delaying another Obama-era anti-segregation measure: the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule.
The AFFH rule, established in 2015, aims to realize aspects of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) of 1968 that never came to be. The FHA barred racial discrimination in housing, but not until a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling did the ban include ?disparate impact?: policies that are discriminatory without necessarily stating racial discrimination as an intent. Under the AFFH rule, communities are required to review their housing policies as they relate to segregation, and submit a plan, called an Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH), combat it. Failure to submit an AFH could result in a community losing block grants and housing aid from the federal government.
In a notice published to the Federal Register, HUD didn?t directly repeal the rule, but said it was delaying the deadline for AFH submissions until 2020.
?Based on the initial AFH reviews, HUD believes that program participants need additional time and technical assistance to adjust to the new AFFH process and complete AFH submissions that can be accepted by HUD? the notice reads.
So far, HUD has received...