Posted on 06/11/2015 5:12:49 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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 those communities.
“HUD is working with communities across the country to fulfill the promise of equal opportunity for all,” a HUD spokeswoman said. “The proposed policy seeks to break down barriers to access to opportunity in communities supported by HUD funds.”
It’s a tough sell for some conservatives. Among them is Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), who argued that the administration “shouldn’t be holding hostage grant monies aimed at community improvement based on its unrealistic utopian ideas of what every community should resemble.”
“American citizens and communities should be free to choose where they would like to live and not be subject to federal neighborhood engineering at the behest of an overreaching federal government,” said Gosar, who is leading an effort in the House to block the regulations.
Civil rights advocates, meanwhile, are praising the plan, arguing that it is needed to break through decades-old barriers that keep poor and minority families trapped in hardscrabble neighborhoods.
“We have a history of putting affordable housing in poor communities,” said Debby Goldberg, vice president at the National Fair Housing Alliance.
The Fair Housing Act of 1968 prohibited direct and intentional housing discrimination, such as a real estate agent not showing a home in a wealthy neighborhood to a black family or a bank not providing a loan based on someone’s race.
But HUD is looking to root out more subtle forms of discrimination that take shape in local government policies that unintentionally harm minority communities, known as “disparate impact.”
“This rule is not about forcing anyone to live anywhere they don’t want to,” said Margery Turner, senior vice president at the left-leaning Urban Institute. “It’s really about addressing long-standing practices that prevent people from living where they want to.”
“In our country, decades of public policies and institutional practices have built deeply segregated and unequal neighborhoods,” Turner said.
Children growing up in poor communities have less of a chance of succeeding in life, because they face greater exposure to violence and crime, and less access to quality education and health facilities, Turner suggested.
“Segregation is clearly a problem that is blocking upward mobility for children growing up today,” she said.
To qualify for certain funds under the regulations, cities would be required to examine patterns of segregation in neighborhoods and develop plans to address it. Those that don’t could see the funds they use to improve blighted neighborhoods disappear, critics of the rule say.
The regulations would apply to roughly 1,250 local governments.
Hans von Spakovsky, a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, called the Obama administration “too race conscious.”
“It’s a sign that this administration seems to take race into account on everything,” Spakovsky said.
Republicans are trying to block the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule. Before passing HUD’s funding bill this week, the GOP-led House approved Gosar’s amendment prohibiting the agency from following through with the rule.
Though segregationist policies were outlawed long ago, civil rights advocates say housing discrimination persists.
HUD is looking to break down many barriers, but Gosar suggested the regulation would have negative repercussions.
“Instead of living with neighbors you like and choose, this breaks up the core fabric of how we start to look at communities,” Gosar said. “That just brings unease to everyone in that area.”
“People have to feel comfortable where they live,” he added. “If I don’t feel comfortable in my own backyard, where do I feel comfortable?”
Critics of the rule say it would allow HUD to assert authority over local zoning laws. The agency could dictate what types of homes are built where and who can live in those homes, said Gosar, who believes local communities should make those decisions for themselves rather than relying on the federal government.
If enacted, the rule could depress property values as cheaper homes crop up in wealthy neighborhoods and raise taxes, Gosar warned.
It could also tilt the balance of political power as more minorities are funneled into Republican-leaning neighborhoods, he suggested.
The Supreme Court is expected to weigh in on housing discrimination in a related case in the coming weeks. At issue is whether government policies that unintentionally create a disparate impact for minority communities violate federal laws against segregation.
The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs is facing accusations that it makes low-income housing funds more readily available in minority neighborhoods than in white neighborhoods. This promotes segregation, critics argue, by encouraging minorities to continue living in poor communities where government assistance is available.
Court observers say the case could have a profound impact on HUD’s rule.
Exactly!
WTF is wrong with these people?
Wait! Never mind. They ARE socialists, after all.
But then the Amish move in with their entitlement mentalities. Since everything was given to them at no real cost, they don't care about maintenance, about upkeep, nor general cleanliness. They don't paint, they don't plant gardens or trees, and they don't repair things that are broken. In five years' time, the entire neighborhood is picked over like a scene from a zombie movie.
It's not about "balancing" diversity or opening up access to more desirable neighborhoods. It's about nihlism, and living a lifestyle that rejects any hope for the future.
I wouldn’t put it past them to force ineligible or low income prospects into those properties by forcing banks to bump their offers to the top of the list, even if the offer is less than others made.
No.
Instead we will all be equally miserable.
The Audis and yachts will be for the “more equal” pigs.
speed boats that are actually fishing boats are the equivalent of wool coats vs fur coats........ virtuous Republican values
Put a bunch of yemani mooselimb immigrants in say nantucket.
Yeah, that’s the ticket.
I disagree with that. An HOA controlled community often has the best of government. The HOA of our gated community meets annually to elect three officers. Those officers serve with no pay. The goal is to benefit the members, by helping the neighborhood be NICE. To benefit their property values etc. You can see those officers in the neighborhood. You can call them on the phone and voice concerns etc. And if they don't do a good job you can replace them, and you can run for that elected position yourself, without spending $$$$$$. But you'll have to be responsive to the neighborhood or they'll replace you.
Yes, it has restrictions about the color of your house, the size, etc.... all of that. And no one is required to buy a home in this neighborhood. If a person wants to paint their house aquablue and put a yellow roof on it... they are absolutely free to do that somewhere else.
People who live in gated neighborhoods under HOA's are often looking to assimilate with like minded people, in a similar socio-economic status. Certainly Obammy wants to bust this up. Honestly, I compare people who buy a real property that is subject to HOA restrictons, and then try to bust up the HOA because they don't like one or more of the restrictions..... well I view them about like I view Obammy.
Post of the day.....
Build that crap here, and it’ll burn before it’s “occupied”.
After all, they all the time demanding diversity and race equality...
Lets put their money where their mouth is...
There goes all the neighborhoods...
Well now, finally a government program I can agree with! I've always wanted to live in a multi-million dollar mansion but the fact I don't make multi-millions of dollars has always prevented me from doing it.
Hey HUD -- BUY ME A MANSION!!
Yep.... picking up trash around the house costs less than a pair of air jordans. A couple of gallons of paint costs less than a pair of air jordans. Mowing costs less than a pair of air jordans.
Special Report: San Francisco gives parents a say in where their children go to school — and that is leading to less diversity
"....Sanchez and Van Court are not alone. Even the African American community, the force behind the historical desegregation efforts, has fallen silent.
“We really don’t have any public demand for this,” State Board of Education President Mike Kirst said about desegregation. “The courts, of course, have largely retreated in this area. And I feel no bottom-up demand for this.”
But just because everybody’s OK with the status quo doesn’t mean it’s right, said Gary Orfield, co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA..."
Planned communal regional centers and resettlements of “afro-americans” has allways been on the agenda by the regime. That was one of the first “solutions” offered by HUD immediately after the regime interjected the “victimization” device imitially used to divide US in the Zimmerman episode. But emphasis on regional centers was quietly dropped as the “victim” tactic was applied in Ferguson,and on and on and on.
While “victimization” initial purpose was to use division to prevent any congressional Constitutional action questioning of actions taken by the Executive branch.
The regional concept revolves around the elimination of property rights. With that the regime is still moving forward. One of the agencies involved is the EPA .
The rules for ensuring a less than 10% chance of poverty:
1. Finish high school.
2. Don’t get married until 20.
3. Don’t have kids out of wedlock at any age.
4. Work full time.
For the black community:
1. lower high school attainment rates
2. lower odds of marriage, whether with or without children
3. 75% illegitimacy rate
4. high rates of unemployment, part time work, disability claims
That is a recipe for poverty, regardless of skin color.
That is not the fault of those who exercised self control, discipline and effort.
Now we see the REAL reason for this.
LONG battle ensued about rebuilding it.
But guess who prevailed? Interesting read (short) - the tone and tenor is very telling.
Sept 2014: Galveston Housing Authority declares firm commitment to Fair Housing as construction begins
The proper phraseology is
Obama attempting CULTURAL RAPE of Western culture
by forcing ghetto culture on people who avoid it.
I'm convinced most people live in the "culture" they live in because it is where they are comfortable. It is what they want. I hear people, even people like Hannity talking about bringing jobs to impoverished areas as a way out of their plight. To lift them out of poverty. Yada yada yada. There is no fix for our poor, gheto, white trash, mexican ... whatever. Most people when they get grown end up in their status in life, at a level where they are comfortable. Comfortable because it is what they were taught, or more often comfortable because of the level of work and responsibility required to be there.
Liberals will never believe that.
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