President Donald Trump is pushing his plea to “suburban housewives” while defending his rollback of the Fair Housing Act.
During the White House event commemorating women’s suffrage, a reporter asked Trump about his appeal to the “suburban housewives of America.”
Trump also defended his recent overhaul of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule as he alluded to the idea of suburban residents’ American dream being diluted as a result of low-income housing being built in close proximity to their neighborhoods.
“I view it very strongly that the suburban voter, the suburban housewife, women, and men living in the suburbs, they want security and safety,” Trump said on Tuesday. “They don’t want to have a lifetime of working hard and buying a house and by the way 30% of people living in suburbia are minority groups. African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Asian-Americans… They are minority groups.”
The president went on to claim that they “don’t want to have their American dream fulfilled and then have a low-income housing project built right next to their house or in their neighborhood. They don’t want it. That’s not part of the deal, and I terminated that.”
See Trump’s remarks below:
Trump later added, “I think that women and men living in the suburbs who fulfilled their American dream, or at least got a big part of it, and now live in a safe beautiful area, they don’t want to have people coming in and forcing low-income housing down their throats.”
Trump’s latest remarks follow multiple, controversial tweets he has aimed at female voters.
I am happy to inform all of the people living their Suburban Lifestyle Dream that you will no longer be bothered or financially hurt by having low income housing built in your neighborhood…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2020
According to the president, “suburban housewives” will be voting for him because he has stopped the alleged invasion of low-income housing in suburban areas.
The “suburban housewife” will be voting for me. They want safety & are thrilled that I ended the long running program where low income housing would invade their neighborhood. Biden would reinstall it, in a bigger form, with Corey Booker in charge! @foxandfriends @MariaBartiromo
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 12, 2020
Almost immediately after Trump posted the tweet, critics derided his words as “racist.”
Despite Trump’s claims about suburban residents being “bothered or financially hurt” by low-income housing, statistics show that Black homeowners are the people who have been greatly impacted by discrimination in real estate.
According to a joint study released by the Brookings Institute and Gallup, properties owned by Black Americans are undervalued by approximately $156 billion.
The study found: “Homes in majority-black neighborhoods consistently sell or are appraised for lower prices, by an average of $48,000 per home,” per the Brookings Institute.
The Fair Housing Act that Trump has worked to roll back was implemented to prohibit discriminatory practices against minorities. However, the New York Times has noted that Trump’s changes to the act will now make proving discrimination far more difficult.
