Release date: 10/16/2018
(RALEIGH) Attorney General Josh Stein today urged the Trump administration and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to reverse its efforts to delay and dismantle critical fair housing regulations. The letter was submitted in response to HUD’s proposal to amend the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule. The AFFH rule gives jurisdictions the data and tools they need to reduce racial disparities and concentrations of poverty in their housing and community development initiatives. Attorney General Stein is part of a coalition of 16 attorneys general submitting the comment letter.
“When we work to reduce housing discrimination and treat everyone equally, we build stronger, more stable communities,” said Attorney General Josh Stein. “The AFFH rule offers critical protections, and I urge HUD to uphold it.”
In the comment letter, the attorneys general write, “Racial segregation of our communities is a troubling and visible reflection of the racial and economic inequality in our country. For too long, communities across the country have been made up of two separate and unequal societies divided along racial and ethnic lines.” The AFFH rule, established in 2015, was a breakthrough policy that made significant strides in affirmatively furthering fair housing. Attorney General Stein also led a coalition of 17 attorneys general in sending a letter to HUD in August, urging the department to uphold the Disparate Impact Rule, which protects people from discriminatory housing and lending practices.
Attorney General Stein is joined in sending today’s letter by the Attorneys General of California, Delaware, Hawai’i, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Virginia, Washington and the District of Columbia.
A copy of the comment letter can be found here.
Contact:
Laura Brewer (919) 716-6484
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