Category: Department of housing and urban development
Democratic-led city’s alleged ‘race-based’ housing strategy prompts federal investigation
One Democratic-led city’s housing plan is facing scrutiny from the Trump administration’s Department of Housing and Urban Development.
On Thursday, HUD announced that it had opened an investigation into Boston’s “race-based” housing program, claiming that the city’s diversity, equity, and inclusion practices may “violate civil rights protections under the Fair Housing Act and Title VI.”
‘This warped mentality will be fully exposed, and Boston will come into full compliance with federal anti-discrimination law.’
HUD sent a letter to Boston’s Office of Housing in mid-September, stating that the department had reason to believe the city was using federal grants to support a race-based housing plan. The letter cited the city’s website, which described Boston Housing Strategy 2025 as “provid[ing] tools to … reduce racial disparities through homeownership and development opportunities for BIPOC-led organizations.”
Boston’s housing strategy states that its goal is to ensure at least 65% of home-buying opportunities are awarded to “BIPOC” households.
HUD requested numerous documents from Boston to investigate the matter.
The department informed Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu’s office on Thursday that it had opened an investigation into its housing strategy.
Scott Turner. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
“To further its racialist theory of housing justice, the City’s Fair Housing Assessment promises to ‘target homebuyer outreach’ at ‘Black and Latinx families’ and pressure ‘banks and mortgage lenders to increase their lending in communities of color,’” read HUD’s notification to Boston.
HUD Secretary Scott Turner stated that the department believes the city ”has engaged in a social engineering project that intentionally advances discriminatory housing policies driven by an ideological commitment to DEI rather than merit or need.”
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President Donald Trump, Scott Turner. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
“HUD is committed to protecting every American’s civil rights and will thoroughly investigate the City’s stated goal of ‘integrating racial equity into every layer of city government,’” Turner said. “This warped mentality will be fully exposed, and Boston will come into full compliance with federal anti-discrimination law.”
A city spokesperson told Blaze News, “Boston will never abandon our commitment to fair and affordable housing, and we will defend our progress to keep Bostonians in their homes against these unhinged attacks from Washington.”
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