Press Releases
07/30/2020
The CHRO Opposes The Federal Repeal of Affordable Housing Rules
(HARTFORD, CT) – The Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) opposes the rescission of the federal rule to affirmatively further fair housing. That rule, which was finalized by the Obama administration, created an obligation for recipients of federal housing funds to examine barriers to fair housing in their programs and to take steps to combat those barriers. This rule was intended to dismantle segregation and redlining in housing. The CHRO strongly condemns media postings, tweets, and other social media posts which intimate that having affordable housing in a community means that property values will go down and crime will go up. Those statements are blatantly racist.
Affordable housing in a diversity of neighborhoods is a necessary piece of the social justice puzzle that the CHRO is fighting for. To this end, the CHRO has recently joined forces with Desegregate Connecticut, an organization that is working to change local zoning laws in an effort to end marginalization of low income people of color. We support their efforts to ask for restructuring our zoning laws to combat segregation. Now is the time to act. In the words of the great John Lewis “There are still forces in America that want to divide us along racial lines, religious lines, sex, class. But we’ve come too far; we’ve made too much progress to stop or to pull back. We must go forward. And I believe we will get there.”
If you, or anyone you know, believes that they are being discriminated because of your race, ancestry, national origin, or any other protected class, contact the CHRO as soon as possible at the office associated with the town where you live at www.ct.gov/chro.
CHRO Contact:
Michelle Dumas Keuler