A sudden decision by the Trump administration to suspend an Obama-era housing regulation could set back efforts to fight housing discrimination both nationwide and in St. Louis.
Called the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule (AFFH), the 2015 rule was intended to clarify the Fair Housing Act’s requirements to go beyond non-discrimination to constructively working towards integrated communities. The Obama administration gave communities that receive Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding a specific pathway to do this, by creating an Assessment of Fair Housing that uses data and community input to identify problems and work towards solutions.
Under Trump, HUD has extended the deadline for communities to submit an Assessment of Fair Housing until after October 31, 2020. Many housing advocates have seen this as an effective suspension of the rule that will bring the enforcement process to a halt, including Elizabeth Risch, the assistant director at St. Louis’ Equal Housing Opportunity Council (EHOC).
“We really see it as a way to repeal the rule,” Risch said.
Jennifer Bellamy, legislative council for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), said HUD, as the federal agency that distributes funds for public housing, has an obligation to hold the local jurisdictions that receive its funding accountable for using it properly.
“By eliminating this rule, HUD leaves communities in the dark about how to achieve their housing and development goals, without the tools and resources to eliminate discrimination,” Bellamy said in a statement.
Seventy-six organizations focused on civil rights, affordable housing and other issues have come together to protest the rule change. In a statement drafted by the ACLU, they called on HUD to revoke the deadline change and on Congress to ensure the agency is properly carrying out its duties.
Shanna L. Smith, president of CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance, said the U.S. is falling short of achieving the goal of truly equitable housing.
“Actions taken over many years by HUD, other government agencies and the private sector have left us more segregated than we were 100 years ago,” Smith said. “That has led to concentrated poverty and weaker communities and undermines our prosperity. We need HUD to enforce this important rule, not suspend it.”
The rule change came as an unpleasant surprise for Risch’s organization; EHOC has been working with Missouri jurisdictions to develop their assessments and just issued a fact sheet on AFFH in December.
According to that fact sheet, changes that the AFFH could recommend include “investments to improve quality of life in high-poverty, segregated neighborhoods, including commercial redevelopment, infrastructure improvements, etc.” and the construction of more mixed-income housing. Jurisdictions’ assessments would have to include identification of the factors that lead to segregation and make it difficult to find affordable housing in their communities, as well as action plans to change those factors.
Risch said St. Louis and other nearby jurisdictions that receive HUD aid, including Ferguson, were working towards a 2019 deadline and developing assessments with community input.
Now, Risch said, that process has no enforcement behind it and will revert back to the previous legal requirements. However, jurisdictions are still required by the original Fair Housing Act to affirmatively work towards change and can undertake those efforts independently at any time.
“We really hope that jurisdictions still recognize that,” Risch said.
Segregation in St. Louis remains a persistent issue, with one study from the Manhattan Institute finding that the stark divide between majority black and majority white neighborhoods makes St. Louis one of the most segregated major cities in the nation.
A report by the website 24/7 Wall St. in 2017 found that some of St. Louis’ persistent problems with racial divides and poverty in black neighborhoods could be traced back to housing projects like Pruitt-Igoe, which were legally segregated and fell into disrepair after white residents moved out.
St. Louis’ HUD office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.