Category: Scott turner
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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Americans priced out while foreigners pour in: Trump admin report slams Biden for spike in rental costs
The Trump administration’s Department of Housing and Urban Development blames rising housing and rental prices on the surge in immigration under Biden.
HUD published the “Worst Case Housing Needs: 2025 Report to Congress” in November, a biennial report that analyzes problems impacting low-income renting families. It defines renters with worst-case needs as those who do not receive government housing assistance and spend more than half of their income on rent or live in severely inadequate conditions, or both.
‘The unchecked illegal immigration and open borders policies allowed by the Biden administration continue to put significant strain on housing, pricing out American families.’
HUD argued that the uptick in immigration caused increases in housing demand and, in turn, prices.
“Between 2021 and 2024, the foreign-born population of the United States increased by more than six million — the largest such increase over such a short period in American history. The foreign-born population now stands at more than 53 million individuals, making up the highest share of the American population in history,” HUD reported.
The department stated that the country’s foreign-born population has grown by 20 million since 2000, representing a 40% increase.
In some regions of the U.S., such as California and New York, immigrants account for up to 100% of the rental growth and over 50% of all owner-occupied growth, HUD added. Nationwide, immigration accounts for two-thirds of rental demand growth, according to the department.
The median monthly housing cost for renters in 2021 was $1,184, increasing nearly 17.5% to $1,391 in 2023, according to the report.
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
“The growth in households attributable to noncitizens was 13% between 2019 and 2023, compared to 7% between 2015 and 2019. This further demonstrates that noncitizen households are playing an increasing role in the household growth that is straining the affordable housing supply,” the report read.
HUD’s report cited several other contributing factors to the affordable rental crisis, including demand-side housing subsidies and the decline in marriage.
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President Donald Trump, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner told Fox News Digital, “The unchecked illegal immigration and open borders policies allowed by the Biden administration continue to put significant strain on housing, pricing out American families.”
“These policies have plagued America’s housing market, but in President Trump, Americans finally have a leader fighting to restore sanity to American immigration policy,” he added.
Turner stated that in 2025, HUD has supported one million homebuyers, including through first-time buyer and refinancing programs. He has called on the Federal Reserve to cut rates to continue the momentum toward affordability.
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