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Ben Carson Removing Words “free from discrimination” from HUD Mission Statement
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development exists to help ensure equal access to housing following generations of government-endorsed racial segregation. Ben Carson is leading HUD in a direction completely counter to its mission.
The Trump administration is attempting to scale back federal efforts to enforce fair housing laws, freezing enforcement actions against local governments and businesses....while sidelining officials who have aggressively pursued civil rights cases.
The policy shift.... is meant to roll back the Obama administration’s attempts to reverse decades of racial, ethnic and income segregation in federally subsidized housing and development projects. The move coincides with the decision this month by Ben Carson, the secretary of housing and urban development, to strike the words “inclusive” and “free from discrimination” from HUD’s mission statement.
Yes, that's right. Not only is Carson stopping HUD from working towards its mission, but he is also changing the mission statement.
....removing the words “free from discrimination” from its mission statement. The proposed statement chops the current 63-word mission on HUD’s website down to 23 words — and puts an emphasis on “self-sufficiency"....
Also gone are references to “inclusive communities,” consumer protections and “quality” homes for all.
Why remove these words and cut the mission statement by more than half? These are concepts that define what HUD exists for.... it's MISSION. Carson is against this mission. He hates the agency he is running, similar to Pruitt with the EPA.
Carson.... has criticized federal efforts to desegregate America's neighborhoods as “social engineering." He compared such attempts to integrate neighborhoods to the “failed social experiment” of mandated school busing.
Carson also tried to delay implementing an Obama-era rule that would give low-income families in two dozen metro regions greater access to housing in more affluent neighborhoods, where they would benefit from better schools, lower crime rates and more job opportunities. But a federal judge ordered HUD to comply starting January.
...in November.... ordered a hold on about a half-dozen fair housing investigations given the highest priority under Mr. Carson’s most recent predecessor.... The freeze would be in effect “until further notice,” the official wrote.
A major case was just starting in 2016 to investigate Facebook's discriminatory advertising practices. Carson's cronies shut it down immediately without explanation, pending to the corporate donors.
HUD had opened a case in late 2016 in response to a ProPublica article that said Facebook gives advertisers the ability to exclude specific groups it calls “ethnic affinities” from seeing their ads when their social media habits identified them as black, Hispanic or Asian-American.
Carson’s aides ordered fair housing division officials to cancel a planned negotiating session with Facebook executives, leaving HUD to take Facebook at its word.... sent a one-page letter to Facebook ordering, without explanation, the termination of a preliminary investigation into the company’s advertising practices.
Fair housing groups filed a lawsuit [in March 2018].... saying that Facebook continues to discriminate against certain groups....
Those with common sense and decency who give their lives towards this noble and vital mission have responded.
Diane Yentel, president and chief executive of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said removing anti-discrimination language from the agency's mission statement is the latest move by Carson to de-emphasize HUD's role in creating inclusive communities. “Secretary Carson is sending a message to the country that he does not take discrimination in the housing market seriously. It’s especially appalling, as we near the 50th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act...."
“For all intents and purposes, this administration is stopping the enforcement of civil rights and fair housing laws at the worst possible time,” said Gustavo Velasquez, who served as assistant secretary for fair housing during the last three years of President Obama’s administration. “.... an attempt to reverse all the advances we made through regulations and enforcement actions....”
“It’s a significant symbolic shift,” said one longtime HUD employee who asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation. “It’s the tip of the iceberg in terms of the kinds of changes they are making...."
YOU WORK FOR US BEN CARSON.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/28/us/ben-carson-hud-fair-housing-discrimination.html