In October, the
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is set to finalize a rulemaking to
condition eligibility for community development block grants on redrawing
zoning maps to achieve racial and income integration.
In 2012, HUD dispersed
about $3.8 billion of these grants to almost 1,200
municipalities. These range from the rather small — Nashua, N.H.
received $583,000 that year. To the rather large — New York City
received $210.9 million of the grants.
Now, under the new
rule, HUD will empower itself to nationalize local zoning decisions in every
single one of these localities in an attempt to create evenly distributed
neighborhoods based on racial composition and income.
“This is a utopian
pipe dream, and social engineering at its worst,” Americans for Limited
Government President Nathan Mehrens said.
“Neighborhoods are
constituted not based on racial quotas, but on economics,” he added.
Mehrens called on the
House of Representatives to defund implementation of the rule via a rider to
the Transportation and HUD appropriations bill coming up next week.
A trial run for
the rule has already occurred in Westchester County, N.Y., where the
department has attempted for years to rezone the area as a condition for
receiving millions in grants.
County Executive Rob
Astorino, a Republican, told HUD to go pound sand, and simply rejected the
receipt of $5 million of grants from 2012.
Westchester lost out
on some $7 million of grants from 2011 for the same reason.
“It is unfortunate
that HUD, which claims to champion the needy, once again is threatening to
withhold funds for affordable housing,” said Astorino spokesman Ned McCormack
in April. “But the county is not going to turn over control of the local zoning
of its six cities, 19 towns and 20 villages to bureaucrats in Washington for $5
million in grants.”
HUD was demanding that
the county build 750 units of affordable housing in 31 more affluent
communities.
Now, Astorino, running
for governor this year against Andrew Cuomo, is challenging in federal court
the legal basis under which HUD can even condition the grants in exchange for
changes to zoning.
Now, call me a cynic,
but this probably has nothing at all to do with integrating communities on the
basis of race or income. More likely, this is a pretext to tilt the political
scales on the national and local political scenes for the next generation to
favor Democrats.
It is no secret that
Republicans with their low tax message tend to do better among the middle and
upper middle classes, while Democrats with their social welfare regime tend to
do better among the poor.
The solution for
Democrats? Via regulation, force communities dependent on federal funding to
build more homes and apartments where Democrats are likely to live.
If for no other
reason, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives should defund the
new rulemaking, which represents an existential threat to its continued
viability as a national political party.
But, leaving that
aside, it’s also completely insane from a policy standpoint. Forcing wealthier
communities to build so-called affordable housing units could depress property
values, increase local taxes, and place a greater strain on public services.
It also violates the
constitutional balance of powers between the federal, state, and local
governments. The federal government has zero role, constitutionally, in local
zoning decisions. That is a matter for county and municipal boards.
Besides, it will not
do a thing to alleviate actual housing discrimination, ALG’s Mehrens noted,
“Housing discrimination based on race has been illegal for decades. There is no
discrimination in people choosing for themselves where they want to live, and yet
that is exactly what HUD is seeking to regulate.”
Robert Romano is the
senior editor of Americans for Limited Government.
Source: NetRightDaily.com:
6/6/14 http://netrightdaily.com/2014/06/racial-quotas-local-zoning-decisions/#ixzz33zV0uzUu
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