Free Republic

A policy at least two years in the making, and President Obama’s broadest attempt to fundamentally transform the United States of America, is moving forward. Unveiled in July of 2013 at the NAACP convention, a plan known as “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” (AFFH) will require the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to gather data on segregation and discrimination in every neighborhood in America and attempt to “fix” these alleged problems.

President Obama is pressing forward with regulations to diversify wealthy neighborhoods – and critics of the idea haven’t been shy, calling out the idea as ridiculous and an irrational way of advancing the White House’s own vision of a utopian society. The rules, coming from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, could withhold block grants to communities if they don’t build enough so-called affordable housing in wealthy neighborhoods, the Hill reported.

The Obama administration is moving forward with regulations designed to help diversify America’s wealthier neighborhoods, drawing fire from critics who decry the proposal as executive overreach in search of an “unrealistic utopia.” A final Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rule due out this month is aimed at ending decades of deep-rooted segregation around the country.

The Obama administration is moving forward with regulations designed to help diversify America’s wealthier neighborhoods, drawing fire from critics who decry the proposal as executive overreach in search of an “unrealistic utopia.” A final Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rule due out this month is aimed at ending decades of deep-rooted segregation around the country. The regulations would use grant money as an incentive for communities to build affordable housing in more affluent areas while also taking steps to upgrade poorer areas with better schools, parks, libraries, grocery stores and transportation routes as part of a gentrification of...

The distance from Chicago to Dubuque, or Clinton, or Davenport is around 200 miles. It’s almost 250 from Burlington. This is a drive of four to five hours, even with no traffic. Yet recent and proposed actions by the federal government make Eastern Iowa part of the “greater-Chicago area.” The expanding federal nanny state has decided that our river towns, struggling to provide good jobs and decent housing for low-income people who already live here, should focus on recruiting low-income people from outside the state, instead of recruiting military veterans, active retirees, or young graduates, who can remain home, start...

CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) - Tinley Park squatter living rent and mortgage free The problem with squatters is hitting home in an upscale Tinley Park Subdivision. On Mallow Street where homes sell for $350,000 or more, a woman has been living in a house rent and mortgage free for two years. “It's very frustrating, our property taxes are very high, I work nights to pay mine and to help support my family. And I just see her coming and going without a care in the world it's enormously frustrating,” said neighbor Patti Yara. And no one is more frustrated than...

Fundamental Transformation of America: Getting rid of the country that exists, replacing it with a foreign new one The actual blueprint of the method of the madness of the Obama regime has been laid bare in White House plans to develop “A Country Within A country” of 15 Million “New Americans”, a story brought to light by Mark Levin’s interview with Susan Payne. “Citizens Will Be Cast Into the Shadows”, warns Susan Payne, a contributor to WCBM, Baltimore and Co-Host of the Pat McDonough Radio Show. (Independent Sentinel, February 28, 2015) Citizens about to be cast into the shadows is...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Rochester, NY (WROC) - LaTanya Daughtry needs a new place to live. The single mother of two boys is on disability and gets a Section 8 housing voucher. But many online classifieds ads say "No Section 8." "It just makes me feel people look at me differently because I'm on Section 8," Daughtry said. "A lot of ads say no Section 8 right off the bat." Section 8 is a federal housing program run through the Rochester Housing Authority. Recipients pay a portion of the rent and Section 8 pays the rest. Section 8 vouchers are in short supply. In...

Brian Thompson had a criminal record spanning more than two decades, but that didn’t stop him from getting an office job at the Department of Housing and Urban Development earning nearly $90,000 per year. His extensive criminal history only came to light in recent days after federal prosecutors outlined convictions and charges of armed robbery, theft and larceny against Thompson, who now faces federal prison time for embezzling more than $800,000 from HUD during his short stint as a federal worker. Now HUD officials are scrambling to figure out how he landed his job, which he was allowed to resign...

Ever heard of "RhodeMap RI"? It's HUD's attempt to introduce social equity in Rhode Island. Rhode Island won a $1.9-million grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2011. With that grant, the state developed RhodeMap RI. The result is social engineering at its best. The plan calls for residents to live in "growth centers," densely packed urban centers that are going to be "futuristic, clean, prosperous." That's what the plan says. Sounds like another public housing project to me. Can anyone say "Cabrini Green?" RhodeMap RI is meant to identify "infill and development" areas that are...

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES SUBJECT: Creating Welcoming Communities and Fully Integrating Immigrants and Refugees Our country has long been a beacon of hope and opportunity for people from around the world. Nearly 40 million foreign-born residents nationwide contribute to their communities every day, including 3 million refugees who have resettled here since 1975. These new Americans significantly improve our economy. They make up 13 percent of the population, but are over 16 percent of the labor force and start 28 percent of all new businesses. Moreover, immigrants or their children have founded more than 40...

A federal judge overturned the Obama administration’s “desperation” move to try to find more ways to prove discrimination in housing in a decision Monday that also delivered a searing rebuke to Thomas Perez, a Cabinet official whom liberals are pushing to be the next attorney general. Judge Richard J. Leon ruled that the administration cannot rely on “disparate impact” to judge discrimination, dealing a blow to civil rights groups that said the analytical tool gave them more room to file discrimination cases. Potentially just as important for President Obama’s postelection moves was the rebuke Judge Leon delivered to Mr. Perez,...

Former Housing and Urban Development loan specialist Brian Thompson pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing $843,000 of taxpayer money in a wire fraud scheme. Thompson was responsible for selling properties acquired by the government after borrowers defaulted on their HUD-guaranteed mortgages. Specialists like Thompson were tasked with ensuring the sale of these properties at the best possible price to reimburse the government for taxpayer funds made to mortgage lenders for insured loans. Instead, he funneled portions of the proceeds into bank accounts he controlled, netting himself $843,000 in the process.

Government coercion of the financial sector to make irresponsible loans was the primary driver of the 2007-08 financial meltdown. Now we learn that Eric Holder, the Tom Hagen of this racketeering enterprise of an administration, is using the vig that DOJ muscle is extorting from the banks to pour tens of millions of dollars into the coffers of the radical Left’s top rabble-rousers – in addition to diverting what should be public funds to pay off delinquent debts in cities that Democrats have destroyed.

Ex-San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro (Obama appointee to head HUD) refused to agree that members of violent gangs should be deported before they commit crimes while participating in gang activities. “I believe in ensuring that America is free of folks that have committed violent crimes,” Castro, who received national attention as a speaker at the Democratic National Convention, told Rep. J. Randy Forbes, R-Va., during the 2013 House Judiciary Committee hearing on immigration reform. “With regard to the hypothetical,” Castro also said, “I readily concede that I’m not in law enforcement, I’m not a technical expert in that regard.” Forbes...

The high-rise at 500 N. Lake Shore Drive is the second-most expensive in the city, with rents for a one-bedroom apartment approaching $3,000 a month, well beyond the reach of most Chicago residents. But that's not too much for the Chicago Housing Authority, which has used federal tax dollars to pick up most of the tab for four lucky residents in the year-old building, with its sweeping views of Lake Michigan, a concierge and a dog-grooming center. The tenants moved in over the past two years as part of a push by the CHA to expand its housing voucher program...

WASHINGTON (AP) — There were all the trappings of a campaign endorsement rally: the cheering crowds, the American flags, and the sitting president heaping praise on a fellow Democrat. All that was missing was the campaign. Three days after new Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro was sworn in, President Barack Obama paid a rare visit Thursday to the agency's colossal concrete headquarters to welcome Castro aboard. In gushing terms, Obama lavished admiration on the fresh-faced former mayor who Democrats are already eyeing as a potential vice presidential candidate in 2016. "He's young, he's good-looking, he talks good. You...

The high-rise at 500 N. Lake Shore Drive is the second-most expensive in the city, with rents for a one-bedroom apartment approaching $3,000 a month, well beyond the reach of most Chicago residents. But that's not too much for the Chicago Housing Authority, which has used federal tax dollars to pick up most of the tab for four lucky residents in the year-old building, with its sweeping views of Lake Michigan, a concierge and a dog-grooming center. The tenants moved in over the past two years as part of a push by the CHA to expand its housing voucher program...

President Barrack Obama nominated San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro to be Secretary of Housing and Urban Development on May 23rd in spite of his city’s alleged misuse of funds from that same federal department. The acceptance of the nomination by Castro marks a departure in the navigational path of this rapidly rising Democrat rising star. The Washington Post reported on May 23rd that this move may signal the Democrats plan to turn Texas blue may be struggling under the leadership of Wendy Davis and Castro now needs to find another pathway to the top of a Democrats future presidential ticket....

Sen. John Cornyn is the Senate’s No. 2-ranking Republican. But Tuesday morning he preferred the role of No. 1 Texan. Cornyn gave a Lone Star State welcome to Julian Castro, introducing the San Antonio mayor at the start of his confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee for the post of Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. President Barack Obama tapped Castro, a Democrat now serving his third term, on May 23 to oversee the department. Cornyn has said that he does not expect any opposition to Castro’s confirmation, and his move to introduce Castro hints...