The US housing and urban development department is preparing to close seven major investigations and cases concerning alleged discrimination and segregation of housing, including where the agency has already found civil rights violations, HUD RECORDS reports.
Among other charges, accommodating industrial plants or housing in their neighborhoods, and managing similar facilities from white neighborhoods, saying that state and local authorities in the south and midws illegally discriminated against people in colors, placing industrial plants or housing. HUD is engaged in these matters – which ranges from cases where the agency has officially charged with discrimination with a new investigation – throughout the seven years. Three of them HUD officials have determined that the accused violated the law on fair housing or related laws on civil rights. The HUD employee, familiar with the other four investigations, believes that civil rights violations occurred in each, the propublica official said. According to President Donald Trump, the agency now plans to stop them sharply, regardless of the preliminary conclusions.
Four HUD officials said they could not remember the precedents of the plan, which, they say, signals the administration’s acceleration Retreat from just housing Fulfillment. “No administration has previously reached the main protection that helps people who harm their community,” one of the officials said. “Maintaining civil rights that HUD is intended to protect the most vulnerable people in society.”
In the short term, the closure of the case will allow local authorities to continue the abuse of minority communities, officials who acted on anonymity from the fear of revenge said. In the long run, according to them, it can crack local politicians and developers elsewhere to take actions that secure the segregation without fear of punishment by the federal government.
HUD Cassie Laut, secretary -secretary, refused to answer questions, saying: “HUD does not comment on active affairs with fair housing and separate staff.”
Three cases are due to the allegations that the local authorities were collecting pollution of industrial facilities in the minority residential districts.
One interested Spores for the plant of crushed scrap metal In Chicago. The institution operated for years in many ways the white neighborhood of Lincoln Park. But the residents constantly complained about couples, garbage, noise and, sometimes, the smoke coming out of the plant. So, The city allegedly putting pressure Rewinding campaign to close the old facility and open a new minority in the southeast of Chicago. In 2022, HUD found that “moving to the object to the south -east section will bring environmental benefits in the neighborhood, which is 80% of white and environmental damage to the neighborhood, which is 83% of black and Spanish.” Chicago’s mayor called Charges of discrimination “insincere”, then settled the case and agreed to reform in 2023 (the new factory did not open; its owner sued city.)
In Another casepreferably a white Michigan village allowed asphalt plant Open on the outskirts, away from their population, but almost to subsidized residential complexes in the neighboring poor, mostly the Black Flint. The town did not respond to the PROPBLICA investigation.
Another case is bound Plan pushed In the city of Corpus Christie, Texas, to build a plant for water cleaned in a historically black neighborhood, which is already framed with refineries and other industrial facilities. . Researchers found.) The city has denied these allegations. The construction of the plant is expected to be completed in 2028.
Three other cases are linked to discrimination allegations of land use. In Memphis, Tennessee, City and its Usefulness allegedly forcing residents From a poor black neighborhood to sell his homes so he can build a new facility there. In Cincinnati in the city there is allegedly focused Housing low -income in poor black neighborhoods and kept it from white neighborhoods. And in Chicago the city gave local politicians veto Above the proposals for development in their constituencies, which led to a small new available housing in white neighborhoods. (Memphis, his utility and Chicago disputed these charges; Cincinnati refused to comment on them.)
The last case was involved in the Texas State Agency allegedly Distracting 1 billion dollars The softening of the consequences of the disaster in the field of Houston and other colored hurricane communities were severely hit by Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and towards more rural, white communities that are less damaged by a thunderstorm. The agency disputed these allegations.
All investigations and cases are now planned to be closed. HUD also plans to stop the settlement execution, which he has reached in the Chicago processing case shows records.
In this transition to cases, Brian Hokins, the recent Trump administration in HUD, which is acting as a senior advisor at the Just Housing Office, said two agency officials. According to his profile, LinkedIn, Hawkins has no degree of legal and previous experience in housing. But this month he distributed the list to HUD on seven cases that showed the plans for them. In cases that include Cincinnati, Corps, Flint and Houston, the agency “found no reason for () merits,” the list reads. In two cases in Chicago and what is involved in Memphis, HUD would cancel letters that documented the agency’s previous conclusions. Hawkins did not respond to a comment request.
The list does not offer legitimate justification to give up cases. But Hawkins also spread a memo that points to the refusal – in Chicago. The memo refers to Executive order Trump issued in April, which eliminates the federal performance of “responsibility that arises”, doctrine that seemingly neutral policy or practice may have a discriminatory effect. Hokins’ note states that “the department will not interpret the impact on the environment as a violation of just housing legislation, which is absent in the demonstration of intentional discrimination.” Four HUD officials said such a position would be a great departure from the policy of the department and relevant trial.
Chicago processing case also stems from the behind -the -scenes pressure on HUD from Senator Jim Banks. In June, the Banks, Republican from Indiana, wrote a letter to the secretary of HUD Scott Turner and the administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency Lee Zeldin, in which he criticized President Joe Biden’s case as “brazen overcoming”. Noticing that the Chicago plant will put metal at Indiana steel factories, Banks asked for the designated Trump “take any actions you consider to correct the situation.” Banks did not respond to a comment request.
This case and others among the seven also received close attention from other federal and state institutions, including the EPA and the US Department of Justice. The EPA refused to say whether it was still carried out on any case. Doj did not respond to the same investigation.
Closing the case in HUD will be the last step in a wide lapel of fair housing under Trump’s administration which, which Propublica reports about previously. This rollback continued in other ways. Recently, the agency has initiated a plan to transfer more than half of its just housing lawyers to the General Lawyer’s office on non -related roles, which are previous staff losses since the beginning of the year, four HUD propublica officials said.
Officials are afraid of long consequences. “The laws on fair housing are forming our cities, the form of housing construction, where contamination takes place, where money goes for natural disasters,” one official said. “Without them, we have another country.”
