HUD terminates Obama-era housing rule that Trump warned would 'destroy' home values

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The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) eliminated federal regulations created during the Obama administration, which Secretary Scott Turner accused of putting "extreme and restrictive demands" on local housing developers. 

President Donald Trump rescinded the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, created under former President Barack Obama, during his first administration. Trump said at the time in a speech about cutting red tape in the federal government that the rule serves to "eliminate single-family zoning to destroy the value of houses" at the benefit of "far-left Washington bureaucrats." 

Then-President Joe Biden later worked to reinstate the rule but ultimately pulled back due to fear it could make him politically vulnerable as he sought reelection, according to Politico. On Wednesday, HUD initiated its own rulemaking to squash the Obama-era AFFH rule, which mandated that localities commission extensive analyses to certify that new housing developments do not exacerbate disparities among federally protected groups. This includes access to public transportation, schools, hospitals and parks.

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A HUD official said that discrimination that is prohibited under the Fair Housing Act of 1968 will still be prohibited. (iStock)

During a Wednesday conference call about the AFFH rule's termination, a HUD official said that discrimination that is prohibited under the Fair Housing Act of 1968 will still remain illegal. But under the new change, localities will now be able to self-certify that their new developments comply with anti-discrimination laws implemented under the 1968 Fair Housing Act.  

"Over the past four years, and really dating back to the Obama administration, far-left Democrats have tried to socially re-engineer communities from the top down," Turner said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital. 

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"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."

Scott Turner, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, on Friday. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Turner added that as a result of cutting this regulation, the federal government will be able to "better serve rural, urban and tribal communities that need access to fair and affordable housing."

Research from the libertarian think tank the Cato Institute found that the AFFH rule, as initiated under Obama, cost taxpayers as much as $55 million annually to collect the certification information the regulation required.