HUD Secretary Turner ends Obama-era affordable housing rule that had opposite effect

It is the end of the road for another Biden-era rule, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which said the rule diminished the country’s affordable housing supply.

The 2021 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, was “in effect a ‘zoning tax,’ which fueled an increase in the cost and a decrease in the supply of affordable housing due to restrictions on local land,” according to a press release from HUD.

HUD Secretary Scott Turner announced Wednesday that the department was terminating the rule — again. The previous Trump administration terminated the rule during Trump’s first term, but the Biden administration reinstated its “main provisions,” according to the department. The rule was originally instituted in 2015 by the Obama administration and added onto the Fair Housing Act, a law passed in the late 60s that prohibits housing discrimination “based on race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status or national origin.”

Within the statute is the provision requiring that federal agencies and recipients of federal housing funds “affirmatively further fair housing,” according to the department.

The Obama-era 2015 rule “expanded the role of the federal government in local zoning decisions by increasing the certification process. It mandated the completion of complex jurisdictional and regional analysis, submission of a 92-question grading tool, and an analysis of impediments,” according to the department.

The department says it is returning power back to local and state governments with the elimination of bureaucratic red tape.

“We are aware of communities that have been neglected or negatively impacted due to the demands of recent AFFH rules," Turner said. "Returning to the law as written will advance market-driven development and allow American neighborhoods to flourish.

“By terminating the AFFH rule, localities will no longer be required to complete onerous paperwork and drain their budgets to comply with the extreme and restrictive demands made up by the federal government," Turner added.