Republican Bills Would Gut HUD's 'Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing' Rule

A post on the National Low Income Housing Coalition's website reveals the Republican Party's initial efforts to roll back the fair housing efforts of the Obama Administration.

Specifically, Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced H.R. 482 and S. 103, respectively. The bills are together titled the "Local Zoning Decisions Protection Act of 2017."

The bills, released on January 12, "would nullify the new Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) regulation and the Assessment Tools associated with the rule," according to the post. "The bills would also prohibit federal funds from being used for the HUD database containing geospatial information regarding community racial disparities and disparities in access to affordable housing."

A separate article explains the revised Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH) Assessment Tools, as released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on January 13, and now at risk of obsolescence due to the effects of the proposed legislation.

Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, released a statement of opposition to the "Local Zoning Decisions Protection Act of 2017," saying that the "bill undermines the goals of the Fair Housing Act by making it more difficult for communities to remedy racial segregation on the local level and ensure families have the opportunity to move to the neighborhood of their choice."

Rep. Gozar and Senator Lee also put out media releases in support of the bill. Rep. Gozar's statement says the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing is former President Barack Obama's "most aggressive attempt yet to force his utopian ideology on American communities disguised under the banner of 'fairness'."