Why hasn’t the House acted on defunding HUD racial
and income zoning quotas in 2016 yet? By
Natalia Castro, 7/7/16
In 2014
the House of Representatives passed the Transportation, Housing, and Urban
Development (THUD) appropriations bill by a vote of 229 to 192. In 2015, the support for
the bill was narrower, passing 216 to 210.
However, this year it may not have
the votes at all as the bill has sparked controversy and been unable to get to
the House floor. The problem is that the legislation provides $58.2 in
discretionary spending — an increase of $889 million from the previous year —
which means that bill now lacks votes among House conservatives who say the
cost is too great.
In turn, the party divide risks
allowing the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Affirmatively
Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) regulation to receive crucial funding to empower
President Barack Obama and paralyze local communities.
According to the Federal Register, AFFH, directs municipalities “to examine relevant factors,
such as zoning and other land-use practices that are likely contributors to
fair housing concerns, and take appropriate actions in response” as a condition
for receipt of $3 billion a year of community development block grants to 1,200 recipient cities and counties
nationwide.
This expands the federal
government’s control over local communities at an alarming rate, removing
communities of the basic right to allow their residents to live where they
please and forcing rezoning of neighborhoods. The House has consistently
defunded this Obama regulation in 2014 and 2015 on an amendment
by U.S. Representative Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.). But with the failing of the THUD
bill, this year the regulation is all but guaranteed to be implemented.
In 2016 it is more critical than
ever that this regulation be stopped, because the HUD is already planning for
its rollout. HUD has released a “Fair Housing Assessment Tool” which divides communities on racial and ethnic lines in
order to “identify neighborhoods or areas in the jurisdiction and region where
racial/ethnic groups are segregated and indicate the predominant groups for
each.”
However, it doesn’t end once these
areas are identified; bureaucrats examine the factors in order to force local
communities into policy change, factors including “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;
Occupancy restrictions; Residential real estate steering; Patterns of community
opposition; Economic pressures, such as increased rents or land and development
costs; Major private investments; Municipal or State services and amenities;
and Foreclosure patterns.”
This is not the federal government’s
job and never has been, but the Obama administration has decided it was a
necessity, so now local communities’ only possible protection is if Congress
defunds AFFH’s implementation — by passing the THUD appropriations bill.
For local communities AFFH is not
only a clear violation of sovereignty, but also an unnecessary cost burden
which can cripple local economies. Westchester County Executive Robert
Astorino stated that of the $5.2 million
annual community development block grant for the county in N.Y., HUD’s eventual
goal was for over 10,000 new housing units, at a compliance cost to the county
of $1 billion. If that proportion held, the costs
of implementing this regulation would be hundreds of billions of dollars for
communities nationwide.
The $889 million increase in THUD
Appropriations Act of 2016 may not be reason enough to vote no — particularly
if AFFH can still be stopped. The cost of rejecting the bill for a slight
increase in the budget number could be a devastating impact on compliance costs
to local communities, not to mention the end of local zoning authority.
Right now, the Senate-passed THUD
bill is with the House Rules Committee, meanwhile, the House’s version of the legislation appears to be permanently stalled.
Here is the simple fact: This
legislation will probably have an increase in spending with or without the AFFH
defund. The only question is if House
Republicans can prioritize defunding AFFH? The consequence of failing to act
could be allowing a regulation that cripples local communities’ decision-making
abilities and puts faceless bureaucrats in charge of redrawing neighborhoods.
The defund of AFFH is not only vital
to local government control over zoning and reining in the overreach which
Obama has committed, but is also critical for the economic success of local
communities. But without Republicans passing THUD appropriations legislation
they passed in both 2014 and 2015, the regulation is guaranteed to remain in
effect.
Defunding AFFH is waiting for
action. Now it is just time for House Republicans to commit to getting it
across the finish line.
Natalia
Castro is a contributing editor at Americans for Limited Government.
Comments
The “poor”
in these previously affluent neighborhoods will be Muslim terrorists.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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