Here we go: HUD releases new “fair housing” rule
SCOTUS rulings have consequences…
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court (am I allowed to call it the “Kennedy Court” yet? That would be fun…) made serious waves in the administrative law world when it handed down a ruling that will make it much easier for activists to prove local-level discrimination against minority candidates for low income housing. Even Justice Kennedy, who led the majority’s charge in favor of an expanded disparate impact analysis, was forced to admit that the ruling could cause an eventual return to racial quota systems.
We’re not quite there yet, but rest assured—the crack team at Housing and Urban Development, led by San Antonio golden boy Julian Castro, is keeping an eye on things.
A new rule, floated by HUD and released today by the Obama Administration, will require cities and towns to to look for patterns of racial bias in local housing. Officials will then be forced to report every 3 to 5 years on the state of the housing market, and self-set goals for reducing segregation in their jurisdictions.
This information won’t just go into a bureaucratic vacuum; instead, it’ll head straight for—you guessed it—another government database. WaPo explains:
The centerpiece of the new rule is a vast trove of geographic data covering every community in the country — its racial makeup, its poverty rate, its concentration of housing vouchers and public housing, as well as the quality of its schools and its public transit. Nearly all of this data, already gathered by the government, comes from publicly available sources like the Census. But HUD hopes the database will enable communities to more clearly track where poverty and segregation overlap, where housing voucher recipients live relative to good schools, which neighborhoods contain no affordable housing at all.
The premise of the rule is that all of this mapped data will make hidden barriers visible — and that once communities see them, they will be much harder to ignore.
Castro, who has a history of using race-based messaging tactics to work his way into the hearts of local minority populations, is of course touting this as a victory for equal opportunity, saying, “Unfortunately, too many Americans find their dreams limited by where they come from, and a ZIP code should never determine a child’s future. This important step will give local leaders the tools they need to provide all Americans with access to safe, affordable housing in communities that are rich with opportunity.”
Conservatives and local government advocates, however, are already looking for ways to stop rollout of the new policy. Conservatives in the House have already tried to defund the rule’s implementation. Activists on and off the Hill are quick to point out that, in addition to falling into the quota trap mentioned by Justice Kennedy, this rule forces communities to desegregate against the will of even minority residents.
This rule comes as part of a renewed push by President Obama to implement policies (allegedly) designed to combat “racially-charged” violence like what we’ve seen in Ferguson and Baltimore.
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Comments
Does this mean that whites will now be more fully represented in low income housing?
It’s been my experience that these housing blocks tend to having a majority of blacks or hispanic living in them yet we know that an equal amount of whites are a the same income level in many places.
What it boils down to is that there will be more fertile fodder in the ferals’ hunting grounds.
Wonder how the zip Kennedy lives in star up to projected ideal.
Another unqualified progressive pretty-boy who was quite literally raised on the knees of America-hating, socialist, racist agitators. How is this any different than the child of a KKK grand-poobah being appointed as a cabinet secretary? Imagine the outrage.
But what do the progs do when such a person, who as mayor of a major city, gets caught with his hand in the cookie-jar misappropriating millions in HUD money? Why, make him HUD Secretary, of course! Lord help us.
The “Mayor of San Antonio” is a figure-head position. The city is run by a manager and a board or council. Castro made a bunch of campaign promises that he had no ability to keep in order to get elected but he has a pretty smile and is a Liberal darling in a red state. His primary function as mayor was to ride in the big red Cadillac convertible with bull’s horns on the grill in the Independence Day parade each year. This obviously qualifies him to head up HUD. I only have two questions for Director Castro. What’s his favorite Mexican food and music and could he answer in Spanish to prove he’s a “real” Hispanic?
When I read your comment, I immediately thought of “my oh my boy, you sure do have a purty mouf.”
Don’t ask me why. I just have these weird association ideas pop up every so often.
I heard banjos!
“Unfortunately, too many Americans find their dreams limited by where they come from, and a ZIP code should never determine a child’s future.”
Of course that is the reason. It could not possibly be because the parent(s) do not teach their young discipline, perseverance, a “can do” attitude or a love of learning. It could not possibly be because the individual does have the will to succeed, to overcome obstacles, to improve oneself. Yes, it must be because of where the person lives. Then how does that explain someone like Ben Carson?
It’s both, but that is beside the point, really. They need to address the problem at its source, rather than redistributing, delegating it. No, they don’t care, and it is a profitable scheme.
The problem with applying disparate impact to HUD is that the government has little to no control over which property owners will accept housing vouchers.
But if the government is only interested in seeing non-disparate numbers, then couldn’t the states achieve the same end result by simply cutting back on the amount of subsidized housing available in poor neighborhoods rather than increasing the amount of subsidized housing in more affluent neighborhoods?
Balancing the scales can just as easily be achieved by taking weight off of one side as adding weight to the other…
Might be a case of ‘be careful what you wish for’ as it doesn’t require that ~more~ affordable housing be made available, only that equal numbers of affordable housing be made available.
You say that the govt has no power to compel property owners to accept section 8 vouchers. Let me remind you that we said the same thing about health insurance and we all know what happened there.
Considering that the DOJ and social complex (e.g. civil rights) have demonstrated a clear and present prejudice, any pronouncement of prejudicial patterns should be considered suspicious and subject to investigation.
That said, this has the selective exclusion of “equal” and “Mr. Chairman, we do not have a crisis at Freddie Mac, and in particular at Fannie Mae” written all over it.
… and economic consequences of “Mr. Chairman, we do not have a crisis at Freddie Mac, and in particular at Fannie Mae” written all over it.
How do you build a low income house on a $400,000 lot? When a person goes into a high income neighborhood and there is a vacant lot available, the price for that lot is going to be the same as a whole section 8 housing project. Does that mean that the feds will underwrite the whole project? Actually it means that we the taxpayers will underwrite it. And then who is going to pay for their garbage and lawn service? Who is going to maintain their landscaping? Who is going to keep the property up to neighborhood standards? Will their maintenance workers accept EBT cards?
Who is going to pay the $1,500 per month property taxes?
Look in the mirror Paul.
Just got my hair cut. Damn I look good… hey wait a sec… I see what you did there!
Defund HUD.
Defund it, and then some. This entire agency should be abolished. The federal government has no damn business meddling in housing and urban development issues; those are state concerns.
I live in a Detroit suburb that is 14% African American. It has 2.5% unemployment, some of the best public schools in the country and 6-figure average household income. Oh, and other than the drive by robberies along the arteries that go into and out of Detroit, virtually no crime. Believe me, these 14% blacks left Detroit to get away from “those” blacks. There aint no way in hades they want to see projects built in their pearly white immaculately groomed suburban backyards. They worked too long and hard to get where they are and they don’t want to see anybody getting there for free just because Obama thinks it’s fair.
Obama knows it’s unfair and that’s why he’s for it.
This is Obama remember. They could not care less about low income blacks. This is using low income people to grab more localized power. This is a Marxist move. They want to control local zoning laws and building regulations. They’ll do it by dangling ‘free’ $$$ in front of state and local politicians.
“They could not care less about low income blacks.”
Or anyone else.
Some states and municipalities already have onerous landlord-tenant laws tying the hands of property owners. Imaging what it will be like if and when this goes into effect.
Look for every neighborhood to have an HOA with a CC&R section precluding rental of a property. No more rental investment properties. The feds will be telling rental owners how and where they can blow their noses. There may not be many rentals available because landlords/owners will be subjected to the federal government’s minutiae and micro-managing. So, people will sell rather than put the property up for rent. The fed’s next move then will be them telling us how much we can sell our houses for. If there aren’t enough poor people in the neighborhood, I can actually see the feds setting the upper limit price you can get for your property. In any case, the entire policy will crush housing prices.
Lovely suburban neighborhoods of middle and upper middle class homes with green, rolling lawns, manicured landscaping, perfectly maintained homes with cars parked IN the garage will become compounds with iron fences, security cameras, big, growling dogs, no kids in the front yards, no kids riding bikes or getting up a game of dodge ball in the cul-de-sac. You won’t be able to let your kids go to the nearby park without one or more parents, or leave your car in the driveway overnight because you’re refinishing an old desk in the garage, the same garage from which all your family’s sporting equipment and tools will be stolen. Those neighborhoods will be gone.
This is exactly what forced “upward mobility” of the poor and certain foreign immigrants has caused in Britain: A hard-working anglo lives next door to muslim or Nigerian or Somalian slouches on the government dole who throw garbage in the street, don’t maintain the property, make noise at all hours, sleep half the day while the kids run wild vandalizing, terrorizing and stealing, and get everything free with more and more money and benefits coming in as they keep spawning dependents. These Brits can’t leave home or go on vacation for fear of what they’ll come back to.
This policy also takes a deep toll on human aspiration. Nobody has to do anything to get the same lifestyle as somebody who worked for what they have. No initiative, no creativity, no invention, nothing to make them think and imagine; just live in the moment day to day like animals.
Justice Kennedy, god of law, there are no minorities, no classes of disenfranchised people, no legal justification for the stratification of people in America. There are only Americans.
Justice Kennedy, god of law, you are creating racial open-ended ad hoc quotas for the Marxist left. Get over yourself.
Society is like entropy in that it tends to devolve into the lowest level present. How many times have we seen low income housing be introduced into a neighborhood only to see that neighborhood decline. During my life I have watched areas of Chicago, Denver and other cities have low income housing introduced only to see the quality of those neighborhoods decline rapidly and significantly. It is only with large amounts of money and effort are these declines reversed as the “Yuppies” try to reclaim parts of the inner city. Since these monies are not going to be made available, this proposed effort by Obama’s HUD is nothing more than bringing everyone to the lowest denominator possible.
“All your nice, clean neighborhood are belong to us.”