Trump Moves to Roll Back Obama Program Addressing Housing Discrimination

Dr. Carson has been a vocal opponent of the rule since his 2016 presidential bid. After he became housing secretary, the former neurosurgeon announced plans to suspend the program in January 2018, citing concerns raised by cities that struggled to comply with its requirements. He claimed that he would delay its resumption until communities had the necessary tools.

Two years later, the department published a proposal that would water down the original rule by eliminating the original mandate that cities and towns address housing discrimination.

A study from researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that under the Obama rule, municipalities proposed more ambitious fair housing goals. Justin Steil, a co-author of the study, said that the program initially faced some difficulties, including complaints from localities that its requirements were onerous, but that those issues could have been resolved with time.

The elimination of the Obama-era rule is one of several efforts by the housing department to roll back housing regulations. It announced in August a proposal that would make it more difficult to prove some discrimination cases — those known as disparate impact claims — under the Fair Housing Act by establishing a higher bar of proof.

The new and final replacement for the Obama-era program, called Preserving Community and Neighborhood Choice, broadly reinterpreted the meaning of “affirmatively furthering fair housing.” Now, it makes no mention of segregation.

The housing department and the Office of Management and Budget waived the comment period for the new rule to speed its enactment, which raised concern among critics of the administration’s decision.

They argued that the old rule’s elimination had killed the first effort in decades to ensure the protections afforded by the Fair Housing Act. Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said the Trump administration was exploiting the political ramifications of a racially motivated policy change to boost his re-election campaign.