By Richard Kahlenberg
The American Prospect
For the past few weeks, President Donald Trump has been busy trying to scare what he calls the “Suburban Housewives of America” into thinking that Vice President Biden’s support for fair housing efforts will bring crime to the suburbs and reduce property values.
In a big step backward, Trump revoked an Obama-era fair housing regulation that spelled out requirements for the “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” provision of the Fair Housing Act. When they passed the act in 1968, lawmakers recognized that ending housing discrimination was not enough; communities receiving federal funds should also take affirmative steps to undo the lasting harm of decades of housing discrimination by coming up with plans to reduce segregation.
In repealing the regulation, Trump tweeted, “I am happy to inform all of the people living in their Suburban Lifestyle Dream that you will no longer be bothered or financially hurt by having low income housing built in your neighborhood.”
Standing firmly on the side of government laws that exclude people based on income, Trump said he opposed efforts to “eliminate single-family zoning,” and claimed that progressive efforts to legalize duplexes, triplexes and apartment buildings could bring new residents to the suburbs “so your communities will be unsafe.”
In a tweet that received the most attention, Trump urged “Suburban Housewives of America” to read an opinion article which claimed Biden has a “plan for a federal takeover of local zoning laws.” In short, Trump falsely claimed, Biden, wants to “Abolish Suburbs.”
Political pundits debated whether Trump’s effort to woo white suburban women with thinly-veiled racial appeals would work in an era when police killing of Black people has raised white consciousness about the corrosive effects of racism. “Are ‘Suburban Housewives’ listening?,” asked Jennifer Weiner in The New York Times. “Or are they too busy organizing protests, posting links to bail funds and discussing antidotes for tear gas?”
Mostly left out of the discussion, however, have been the voices of another group of women: low-wage Black and Latino would-be suburban mothers who want safe neighborhoods and good schools for their kids but are now largely shut out of high opportunity neighborhoods by local governments’ zoning. (emphasis added)
