In a move some claim is tantamount to social engineering, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is imposing a new rule that would allow the feds to track diversity in America’s neighborhoods and then push policies to change those it deems discriminatory.
The policy is called, "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing." It will require HUD to gather data on segregation and discrimination in every single neighborhood and try to remedy it.
HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan unveiled the federal rule at the NAACP convention in July.
"Unfortunately, in too many of our hardest hit communities, no matter how hard a child or her parents work, the life chances of that child, even her lifespan, is determined by the zip code she grows up in. This is simply wrong,” he said.
Data from this discrimination database would be used with zoning laws, housing finance policy, infrastructure planning and transportation to alleviate alleged discrimination and segregation.
Specifics of the proposed rule are lacking.
"Honest, I tried to make something of my life, but that damn ZIP code kept holding me back."
"Specifics are lacking." Gee, ya think? What are they gonna do, march one family out of a neighborhood at gunpoint, then march another one it? This goes beyond breathtaking. "Stupefying" is the word that comes to mind.
Most people tend to self-segregate by economic status. I don't cite it as proof of anything -- it's just an obersvation -- but my neighborhood has become a lot more diverse in the nearly 30 years I've lived there. And we're all sort of middle middle-class and get along just fine, thank you very much. Well, there is one cranky old coot who's kind of off-putting. Maybe HUD come in and haul him out of there.
Oh, wait. That's me.
"Discrimination database." Lordy.
