This week HUD held a roundtable with local and federal officials in Pennsylvania to discuss the importance of local zoning decisions being made by local communities as opposed to "unelected bureaucrats in Washington."
HUD Secretary Dr. Benjamin Carson said, “American suburbs are a shining example of the American Dream, where people can live in their own homes, in safe, pleasant neighborhoods. We have already seen jurisdictions make strong progress promoting fair housing at the local level, and they will continue to do so without complicated certification processes from Washington that would inevitably lead to blanket national policies on intimate local issues. As it turns out, our Founders had some good ideas when they set up our government—we just need to listen to them. Washington has no business dictating what is best to meet your local community’s unique needs.”
U.S. Representative Fred Keller (R-PA 12) went on to “commend President Trump and his administration for ensuring that Americans have access to affordable housing. Rolling back the AFFH rule gets government out of the way, eliminates costly Washington mandates, and supports local control of neighborhood development.”
This newly implemented rule known as Preserving Community and Neighborhood Choice defines fair housing broadly to mean housing that, among other attributes, "is affordable, safe, decent, free of unlawful discrimination, and accessible under civil rights laws."
The rule additionally defines “affirmatively furthering fair housing” to mean any action rationally related to promoting any of the above attributes of fair housing.
Under the rule, a grantee’s certification that it has affirmatively furthered fair housing will be deemed sufficient if it "proposes to take any action above what is required by statute related to promoting any of the attributes of fair housing."
HUD remains able to terminate funding if it discovers, after investigation made pursuant to complaint or by its own volition, that a jurisdiction has not adhered to its commitment to AFFH.