Court ruling opens up path to better housing for poor people in many cities

WASHINGTON — A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to implement an Obama-era rule on Jan. 1 that would give low-income families greater access to housing in more affluent neighborhoods.

The 2016 rule was designed to break up areas of concentrated poverty in two dozen metro regions, from Atlanta and Charlotte to San Diego and Honolulu.

It would operate by taking into account the rental prices in specific neighborhoods — instead of averaging across an entire metropolitan area — making it easier for poor people to afford apartments in middle-class neighborhoods with better schools, lower crime rates and more job opportunities. Under the current system, families receiving public rental assistance have been concentrated in deeply segregated, high-poverty communities.

A coalition of civil rights organizations sued the Trump administration in October after HUD Secretary Ben Carson announced that the agency would delay implementing the rule by nearly two years. Housing industry groups, including the National Association of Home Builders, lobbied against the rule, arguing that it would lead to disinvestment in inner cities.

Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell ruled on Dec. 23 that HUD’s decision to delay implementing the rule would irreparably harm the plaintiffs: a Hartford, Conn., mother of five and a Chicago mother trying to move their families to safer areas. “It’s overdue that our federal government remedy the massive disparities in wealth and education its policies continue to produce, and rules like this one play an integral role in leveling the playing field for blacks, Latinos, and low-income Americans,” said Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.