Democrats Call on Biden to Quickly Bring Back ‘Fair Housing’ Rule Rescinded by Trump

The Biden administration has come under pressure from progressive Democrats to finalize a policy outlining the obligation of communities to “affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH),” an unfulfilled aspect of a Civil Rights-era law. In a May 10 letter to President Joe Biden, a group of 28 House Democrats called for the immediate issue of the AFFH rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) more than a year ago. The proposed AFFH rule, the Democrats argued, would serve to close gaps in the enforcement of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, an ambitious attempt to address historic patterns of segregation and discrimination in America’s housing market. The law consists of two aspects: first, prohibiting discrimination in sales and rentals of housing; and second, using federal executive power to implement programs “in a manner affirmatively to further the goal of fair housing as required by section 808 of the Act.”...