Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner said he would terminate the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule on Wednesday, repealing the law which was enacted to “overcome historic patterns of segregation.”
President Trump originally terminated the rule created during the Obama administration in 2020 after he said it would “destroy the value of houses” but it was restored by former President Biden in 2021.
“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 said in a Wednesday statement obtained by The Hill.
“This action also returns decisions on zoning, home building, transportation, and more to local leaders,” he added.
The HUD secretary outlined a new process that no longer requires local zoning decisions to be informed by a 92-question grading tool as well as an analysis of impediments.
It repeals former President Barack Obama’s expansion of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) which was passed as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
The law prohibits housing discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status or national origin. It also requires federal agencies and recipients of federal housing funds to affirmatively further fair housing.
Turner said the Trump administration’s changes provide an “opportunity” to “make homes more affordable, spur business creation, and create economic opportunity for every American.”
The move comes a week after he announced that there will be a task force within the agency dedicated to eliminating department spending.
