By Tom DeWeese

We, the American people, are not each other’s enemies. The enemies are those people behind the curtain jerking everybody’s chain and trying to divide us up by age, by race, by income.” -Dr. Ben Carson, HUD Secretary I have a very important development to report to you. And I’m asking you take some specific action if you can.

As you know, APC has been fighting to stop HUD’s disastrous AFFH rule. We are starting to make progress!

HUD Secretary Carson is trying to take strong action to roll back one of the federal government’s worst destroyers of private property. It’s the Obama program called Affirmatively Affirming Fair Housing Act (AFFH).

AFFH is a direct attack on homeowners. Leftist supporters of this policy claim that it’s unfair for you to own home unless everyone can have the same, whether they can afford it or not. They say it’s racist to deny someone an equal home, just because they don’t have the money for it. Secretary Carson knows this is socialist insanity and he is trying to get rid of it. But the radical left is doing all it can to stop Secretary Carson. They have filed a lawsuit to force him to keep AFFH in force.

They claim the rollback of the rule creates segregation and discrimination. They charge that Carson’s efforts to fix the AFFH problem is nothing but “Conservative Orthodoxy.”

The left is taking every action possible to stop him!

Frankly, I would much rather see the entire AFFH mess repealed. But I understand the pressure Secretary Carson is under. And I fully agree that his efforts are certainly a step forward. Here is what Secretary Carson is actually proposing:

• Sec. Carson wants to minimize regulatory burden Obama created the AFFH rule to enforce what are known as the “Livability Principles.” These are federal guidelines for communities to destroy existing neighborhoods by enforcing the creation of the stack ‘em and back ‘em Smart Growth high rises. It’s all fueled by the HUD grants.
• Sec. Carson wants to focus on “positive results” rather than analysis of community characteristics

The AFFH rules force communities to do an “Assessment of Fair Housing” which lists 40 “Contributing Factors” for “unfair” housing issues. HUD demands that each community must create a plan that removes contributing factors. And the communities have to do a new assessment every five years! And most cities aren’t even able to comply! That’s why some cities actually have to advertise for more low income people to move to the city to be in compliance!

• Sec. Carson wants to allow greater local control and innovation If a community fails to comply to AFFH rules (which have no definition) then HUD files a law suit and HUD agents basically rule the city.
• Sec. Carson wants to Increase housing choice, including a greater supply of housing One of the results of HUD law suits is that landlords are no longer allowed to ask potential renters if they can afford to pay the rent. This results in fewer landlords and fewer housing choices.

The fact is, the Left’s charges against Secretary Carson’s efforts to reign in AFFH are all lies designed to keep dangerous Obama rules in place!

Ben Carson has correctly charged that Obama’s AFFH tyranny is nothing but social engineering. AFFH rules are tearing down low income neighborhoods and forcing the local residents into federal housing and welfare programs. Now the same leftist groups that are supporting AFFH rules are charging that federal housing causes ghettos and that’s racist!

Further, they charge that people who have saved and invested their money so they can buy a nice home in a nice neighborhood are “segregating themselves” from lower income people. Now they charge that such neighborhoods are RACIST and they are forcing low income public housing into such upper scale neighborhoods – killing property values.

None of this has anything to do with “fair housing” or making lives better. It is the destruction of lives and what used to be called the American dream! The poor become trapped in federal welfare and the middle class become poorer.

As Dr. Carson says, it is a scheme to divide us by age, race, and income. He is trying to do the right thing in rolling back this terrible Obama scheme. But he is absolutely under siege from leftist organizations that make their money from the AFFH policy.

My American Policy Center (APC) has worked for more than three years to get rid of AFFH. We have raised a strong voice of opposition. It appears that we have been heard and as Secretary Carson has taken steps to reign in AFFH. It’s clear that Sec. Carson has heard APC’s opposition and agrees. But the radical Left refuses to back down and let him do the right thing. That’s why APC must keep up the pressure to counter the lies of the Left and finally win the repeal of AFFH.

Now, here is direct action you can take to help Sec. Carson begin to fix this mess. He has offered his goals to reform AFFH (as I listed above). Now he has opened up a comment period for the public to address his changes.

You know what is going to happen! The Left is going to pour in their comments, demanding that AFFH be left as Obama intended it to be – a tyranny against property owners. So, here is our opportunity to create a flood of comments ourselves.

On the enclosed reply form will you take just a minute and write one paragraph for your comment?

• You can either say you support Sec. Carson’s efforts to reform AFFH.
• Or you can say you are totally opposed to AFFH and want it repealed. Either way, you are supporting the goal to do away with this terrible mess. After I have received the comments from you and the others who are receiving this letter, I will personally deliver all of them to Secretary Carson. That’s why I want a huge response. I want to deliver boxes of comments to him demanding that AFFH be dealt with.

He needs to hear from us in a much stronger voice than the radical Left. Take this action today and we will eventually send AFFH to the trash heap where it belongs. But hurry, we only have about thirty days to deliver our responses. Will you also help me to continue to expand our fight against these powerful, well funded – but beatable – radical Left forces that are determined to transform out nation into a UN global village that seeks to destroy our freedom?

I’m asking you to continue supporting APC today with your gift of $25, $50, or $100. Our side needs to learn quickly that the Left doesn’t play fair – and they do a much better job of supporting their hidden agenda. APC is succeeding where others have failed because I refuse to give up! Please help me fight for our liberty!

Yours in Freedom,

Tom DeWeese, President American Policy Center