HUD Accuses Boston Affordable Housing Initiative Of Reverse Racism 

In addition to undermining democracy at every turn and turning the federal government into their personal piggy bank, the Trump administration has spent much of its time arguing that white people are the real victims of racism. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced it would be launching an investigation into Boston’s affordable housing efforts to see if they discriminated against white people. 

According to the New York Times, Craig Trainor, the assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity, sent a letter to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, taking umbrage at the city government’s prioritizing Black and brown communities in its affordable housing policies. 

“As you are aware, the Trump administration is dedicated to protecting the civil rights of all Americans. At your office’s direction, however, city officials have set out to smuggle ‘racial equity into every layer of operations in city government,’” Trainor wrote. I feel like at this point they should stop saying “all Americans” and just say “white Americans.” 

Trainor also had the audacity to say that Boston’s housing initiatives promote a “racialist theory of housing justice,” claiming that “in a shameful echo of a darker period in our country’s history,” Boston is attempting to “revive government-sponsored redlining.” 

So ol’ boy acknowledges redlining is a terrible thing that happened, which resulted in wealth deprivation for generations of Black people, but is mad that Boston is doing something to address those historical inequities. Make it make sense, y’all.

Last year, Mayor Wu launched the Boston Acquisition Fund (BAF), a public-private loan fund aimed at combating the affordability crisis through housing. According to a statement released by the mayor’s office, the BAF’s primary goals are “to stabilize housing for at-risk individuals and families, permanently remove naturally occurring affordable housing from the speculative market, and promote the growth of new, local, and diverse development teams.” 

Mayor Wu was quick to clap back against Trainor’s claims, calling the investigation “unhinged attacks from Washington,” adding, “Boston will never abandon our commitment to fair and affordable housing.” The investigation was announced on the same day Mayor Wu and the Mayor’s Office of Housing announced that it had preserved 16 affordable apartments through the fund.

The second coming of the Trump administration has largely focused its white grievance on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in higher education, including earlier this year, when the Education Department announced it was launching civil rights investigations into the colleges and universities it believed engaged in “unlawful DEI.” 

The result of those DOE investigations has been several schools shuttering their DEI programs, ending student-run publications for focusing on Black and women’s issues, and even giving students the courage to try and get their professors fired for “religious discrimination” when they get a zero for referencing the Bible and not citing their sources in a scientific essay. 

The HUD investigation would be the first time that the Trump administration has investigated a city’s housing initiatives under the Civil Rights Act. Trainor said that depending on the findings, charges could be filed against the city. Threatening to sue a major city over its efforts to provide affordable housing during an affordability crisis is definitely a smart move ahead of the midterms. This won’t make the Trump administration look stupid at all. 

SEE ALSO:

Poll Finds Nearly Half Of Americans Struggle To Afford Basic Needs

The Projects: A Brief History Of American Public Housing