Under a
sweeping new federal housing mandate, the Obama administration threatens to
withhold funding for cities and counties that fail to remove local zoning laws
and other potentially "discriminatory barriers" that restrict
low-income housing in wealthy neighborhoods.
More than 1,200
municipalities will be impacted by the highly contested rule, which the Housing
and Urban Development Department put into effect Wednesday.
The agency
seeks to combat discrimination in affluent suburban areas, while also
desegregating poor urban areas where it says too many minorities lack access to
good schools and jobs.
"A ZIP
code should never determine a child's future," HUD Secretary Julian Castro
said.
The massive
377-page regulation requires local authorities to take "meaningful
actions" to diversify neighborhoods. Municipalities that don't comply risk
losing millions in federal grant money. Some could face federal housing-bias
probes.
Critics say
HUD's far-reaching mandate is an intrusion on the affairs and responsibilities
of local governments, and opens the door to Washington dictating zoning and
land use decisions.
They argue the
development of subsidized apartments and other affordable housing in
low-density areas could increase crime and congestion and lower property
values. It could also stretch school systems.
While HUD
concedes that limiting such housing does not necessarily make communities
racist, the agency asserts that it reduces the "fair housing choices"
for minorities who can't afford to live in those areas.
"While
zoning and land use are generally local matters, when local zoning or land use
practices violate the Fair Housing Act, they become a federal concern,"
HUD warned in its rule.
In 2013, HUD
expanded Fair Housing Act violations to include racially neutral policies that
have a "disparate impact," or disproportionate burden on minorities.
The Supreme Court in a narrow ruling last month upheld the disparate impact
doctrine.
HUD's new rule,
"Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing," requires municipalities
"to perform an assessment of land use decisions and zoning to evaluate
their possible impact on fair housing choice," it said. "This
assessment must be consistent with fair housing and civil rights requirements
."
"An example
of disproportionate housing needs would be found when a significantly higher
proportion of the jurisdiction's black residents experience a severe cost
burden when compared to the proportion of the jurisdiction's white residents
experiencing a severe cost burden," HUD notes.
In a companion
"Fair Housing Assessment Tool," HUD counts "land use and zoning
laws, such as minimum lot sizes, limits on multi-unit properties, height
limits, or bedroom-number limits as well as requirements for special use permits
(and) occupancy restrictions" among "factors contributing to
segregated housing patterns."
Foes point to
Westchester County, N.Y., as an example of how HUD seeks to control suburban
zoning and building. HUD has withheld $17 million in funds from the tony
community after it failed to build several hundred affordable-housing units
under federal order.
Single-Family
Zoning = Bias?
"HUD has
said that even quarter-acre (lot) single-family zoning, in their view, may very
well be discriminatory and perpetuate 'segregation,'" Westchester County
Executive Rob Astorino told IBD. "This is about changing every block,
every neighborhood to the viewpoint of federal bureaucrats."
HUD plans to
release "geospatial" data of every U.S. neighborhood to show racial
bias patterns.
HUD says
localities can "overcome" such patterns in "low-minority
areas" by, among other things, "amending a local land use or zoning
law to remove barriers to the development of affordable housing in areas of
opportunity," where jobs, quality schools, parks and grocery stores are
more plentiful.
They can also
satisfy regulators by expanding Section 8 subsidized housing in those areas.
Section
8 Concerns
In fact, HUD in
its rule suggests that local housing authorities augment rental vouchers to
cover higher rents in wealthy suburbs and give poor minorities a list of
landlords willing to lease units, along with relocation counselors.
The agency also
urges housing authorities to "take regional approaches to HCV (Housing
Choice Vouchers) mobility practices," including forming regional consortia
to coordinate Section 8 relocations.
But even
HUD-sponsored studies have found a link between Section 8 tenants and higher
crime. The Urban Institute found in a 2012 study that tenants who moved in the
last decade from inner-city public housing to Section 8 rentals in Atlanta and
Chicago suburbs tended to bring crime with them.
"Destination
neighborhoods would have been 2.8% and 5.5% lower, respectively, for violent
crime in Atlanta and Chicago" without relocated Section 8 households, the
study found.
White
suburbanites are not the only ones upset. Middle-class African-Americans in
Chatham, Ill., for example, have complained that violent crime has moved in
with tenants from Chicago projects. Black professionals there say they now hear
frequent gunfire, and blame Section 8 renters involved in drugs and gangs for
increased violence.
Source:http://news.investors.com/politics/070815-760844-obama-hud-fair-housing-rules-mandates-neighborhood-diversity.htm?p=2
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