President-elect Joe Biden (Getty Images)
For decades, New York City has offered communities an enticing deal: Approve new housing and locals will get half of the affordable units.
But in 2014, the Obama administration warned the city that so-called “community preference” might be reinforcing segregation. The city balked, offering to tweak the policy but not to dump it. “Without any promise of local benefits,” wrote Vicki Been then head of the New York City’s main housing agency getting local buy-in for projects could be “extraordinarily difficult.” Federal housing officials felt community preference conflicted with an Obama administration rule requiring municipalities to show how they are combating exclusionary housing. But last summer the Trump administration repealed the Obama measure, Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, and the city’s policy remains unchanged.
President-elect Joe Biden (Getty Images)
For decades, New York City has offered communities an enticing deal: Approve new housing and locals will get half of the affordable units.
But in 2014, the Obama administration warned the city that so-called “community preference” might be reinforcing segregation. The city balked, offering to tweak the policy but not to dump it. “Without any promise of local benefits,” wrote Vicki Been then head of the New York City’s main housing agency getting local buy-in for projects could be “extraordinarily difficult.” Federal housing officials felt community preference conflicted with an Obama administration rule requiring municipalities to show how they are combating exclusionary housing. But last summer the Trump administration repealed the Obama measure, Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, and the city’s policy remains unchanged.