New federal housing mandate

Obama Administration Mandates Diversity In Suburbs

376 Comments

BY PAUL SPERRY, FOR INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY

07/08/2015 

Under a sweeping new federal housing mandate, the Obama administration threatens to withhold funding for cities and counties that fail to remove local zoning laws and other potentially "discriminatory barriers" that restrict low-income housing in wealthy neighborhoods.

More than 1,200 municipalities will be impacted by the highly contested rule, which the Housing and Urban Development Department put into effect Wednesday.

The agency seeks to combat discrimination in affluent suburban areas, while also desegregating poor urban areas where it says too many minorities lack access to good schools and jobs.

"A ZIP code should never determine a child's future," HUD Secretary Julian Castro said.

The massive 377-page regulation requires local authorities to take "meaningful actions" to diversify neighborhoods. Municipalities that don't comply risk losing millions in federal grant money. Some could face federal housing-bias probes.

Critics say HUD's far-reaching mandate is an intrusion on the affairs and responsibilities of local governments, and opens the door to Washington dictating zoning and land use decisions.

They argue the development of subsidized apartments and other affordable housing in low-density areas could increase crime and congestion and lower property values. It could also stretch school systems.

While HUD concedes that limiting such housing does not necessarily make communities racist, the agency asserts that it reduces the "fair housing choices" for minorities who can't afford to live in those areas.

"While zoning and land use are generally local matters, when local zoning or land use practices violate the Fair Housing Act, they become a federal concern," HUD warned in its rule.

In 2013, HUD expanded Fair Housing Act violations to include racially neutral policies that have a "disparate impact," or disproportionate burden on minorities. The Supreme Court in a narrow ruling last month upheld the disparate impact doctrine.

HUD's new rule, "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing," requires municipalities "to perform an assessment of land use decisions and zoning to evaluate their possible impact on fair housing choice," it said. "This assessment must be consistent with fair housing and civil rights requirements ."

"An example of disproportionate housing needs would be found when a significantly higher proportion of the jurisdiction's black residents experience a severe cost burden when compared to the proportion of the jurisdiction's white residents experiencing a severe cost burden," HUD notes.

In a companion "Fair Housing Assessment Tool," HUD counts "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 (and) occupancy restrictions" among "factors contributing to segregated housing patterns."

Foes point to Westchester County, N.Y., as an example of how HUD seeks to control suburban zoning and building. HUD has withheld $17 million in funds from the tony community after it failed to build several hundred affordable-housing units under federal order.

Single-Family Zoning = Bias?

"HUD has said that even quarter-acre (lot) single-family zoning, in their view, may very well be discriminatory and perpetuate 'segregation,'" Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino told IBD. "This is about changing every block, every neighborhood to the viewpoint of federal bureaucrats."

HUD plans to release "geospatial" data of every U.S. neighborhood to show racial bias patterns.

HUD says localities can "overcome" such patterns in "low-minority areas" by, among other things, "amending a local land use or zoning law to remove barriers to the development of affordable housing in areas of opportunity," where jobs, quality schools, parks and grocery stores are more plentiful.

They can also satisfy regulators by expanding Section 8 subsidized housing in those areas.

Section 8 Concerns

In fact, HUD in its rule suggests that local housing authorities augment rental vouchers to cover higher rents in wealthy suburbs and give poor minorities a list of landlords willing to lease units, along with relocation counselors.

The agency also urges housing authorities to "take regional approaches to HCV (Housing Choice Vouchers) mobility practices," including forming regional consortia to coordinate Section 8 relocations.

But even HUD-sponsored studies have found a link between Section 8 tenants and higher crime. The Urban Institute found in a 2012 study that tenants who moved in the last decade from inner-city public housing to Section 8 rentals in Atlanta and Chicago suburbs tended to bring crime with them.

"Destination neighborhoods would have been 2.8% and 5.5% lower, respectively, for violent crime in Atlanta and Chicago" without relocated Section 8 households, the study found.

White suburbanites are not the only ones upset. Middle-class African-Americans in Chatham, Ill., for example, have complained that violent crime has moved in with tenants from Chicago projects. Black professionals there say they now hear frequent gunfire, and blame Section 8 renters involved in drugs and gangs for increased violence.

Read More At Investor's Business Daily: http://news.investors.com/politics/070815-760844-obama-hud-fair-housing-rules-mandates-neighborhood-diversity.htm#ixzz3fQP7l8Zi
Follow us: @IBDinvestors on Twitter | InvestorsBusinessDaily on Facebook