Urban Planner | Climate and Environmental Justice | Housing Policy Community Engagement | Dynamic Speaker and Coach
Testimony before the U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND REFORM SUBCOMMITTEE ON CIVIL RIGHTS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES Regarding “A Threat to America’s Children: The Trump Administration’s Proposal to Gut Fair Housing Accountability” On January 14, 2020, HUD released a proposed rule redefining how jurisdictions will be expected to comply with the AFFH component of the Fair Housing Act.43 The proposed rule effectively eliminates the AFFH mandate of the Fair Housing Act and discards the equity and opportunity lenses that were key to the 2015 AFFH rule HUD seeks to replace. The proposed rule is premised on the notion that if jurisdictions remove the “barriers” to affordable housing development and let the market operate without constraints, it will solve their affordable housing problems and that, in turn, will solve our fair housing problems. It does not acknowledge systemic discrimination or segregation in any way and it completely ignores the connection between where one lives and the opportunities they may or may not have as a result. It ignores the multitude of disparities that have been created and fostered by persistent segregation or the role that decisions concerning the placement and design of housing and community development investments have on producing them. It has virtually no reference to protected classes and it does not require jurisdictions to provide meaningful explanations for how their housing and community development decisions will address the issues they choose to prioritize. For more information, please see - J. Soto Testimony - 2020.02.05 FINAL (congress.gov) - it is a pretty lengthy reading.... smile This is what folks have to look forward to IF.... https://lnkd.in/g7gZxT6H
