By John Anthony ——Bio and Archives--January 24, 2017
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Instruct HUD to remove all references to “regions’” and the requirement to align the Fair Housing Assessment application process and/or the grant recipients consolidated plan with a region. This order applies to any grants associated with Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, including CDBG, HOPWA, ESG and HOME grants both by communities and public housing authorities (PHAs).This eliminates the move by HUD to herd communities into regional planning under the guise of fair housing and preventing discrimination.
Instruct HUD to remove the requirement that, except with the agency’s permission, communities and PHAs must use HUD supplied data for creating plans when applying for HUD grant funds under CDBG, HOPWA, ESG and HOME grants. Instead, allow communities to provide their own data.HUD’s provided data tables and demographic charts create the core for centrally controlled planning and manipulation of local communities into regional planning efforts. Removing this tool limits federal control of housing locations and human relocations. Stop AFFH order three:
Remove the statement in the HUD grant application requiring grant recipients to “take no action materially inconsistent with HUD’s goal of affirmatively furthering fair housing.” Replace with “recipients shall only use these funds in a manner consistent with the Fair Housing Act as passed by Congress.”The “materially inconsistent” statement is the basis for False Claims Act lawsuits, one of several threats the agency uses to coerce communities into planning and zoning compliance. Together, these orders will stop the immediate risks currently attached to AFFH related grants. The next three will stop most HUD programs that use specious assessment and reports to gain collective community compliance. Stop AFFH order four:
Instruct HUD to immediately cease using zip codes as the basis for establishing Section 8 voucher values. This applies to the Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMR) program and all other zip code related programs.This program enables HUD to relocate families, often against their will, and to resettle established communities with little regard to current residents, zoning laws, or personal property rights. Stop AFFH order five:
Instruct HUD to halt all programs related to the Move to Opportunity (MTO) initiative until the Secretary can re-evaluate the effectiveness of MTO and conduct a cost benefit analysis.Like SAFMR above, MTO enables HUD to relocate families, and ignore local zoning laws, or personal property rights. MTO advances HUD’s concept of income integration. There is no provision in the Fair Housing Act to relocate families to gain equal representations of income in areas. Stop AFFH order six:
Instruct HUD to cease educational and training efforts at the department’s four regional Equity Assistance Centers regarding “income diversity” and “upward mobility” until the programs can be re-evaluated by the incoming secretary. This includes flyers, electronic messaging and all other forms of communication.In June 2016, HUD formed a team with the Department of Education and the Department of Transportation to advance classroom diversity in all elementary and secondary schools using income as its basis. The program is extrapolated from former President Obama’s 2017 HUD budget item entitled, “Stronger Together.” This entire program needs review. In addition, there are important issues of the application of “disparate impact” and the reapplication of HUD grant funds which must be addressed by the Secretary. These steps are not permanent solutions. They are stop gap measures that protect communities from the immediate threat of AFFH related grants and establish that the administration intends to fully overhaul the AFFH program.
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