The Trump administration took legal action against Democrat-run Boston’s programs prioritizing “people of color” for housing assistance in a civil rights complaint obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Democratic Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s office and local nonprofit Opportunity Communities may be discriminating based on ethnicity and national origin in federal funding, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said in the Thursday complaint. HUD described outreach and education efforts, an investment risk assessment tool, pressure on private businesses and housing funds favoring minorities — often quoting city officials’ racially charged messaging back at them.
“Upon information and belief, the City has endorsed a city-wide system for allocating scarce housing resources based on race, color and/or national origin,” HUD wrote. The agency accused the city of pursuing “explicit racial targets” in housing.
The complaint means that Boston can work with HUD to settle the claims or the Department of Justice can take officials to court. HUD warned Boston in a September letter that it was looking into these issues based on public city statements declaring preference for “non-white” aid recipients, the DCNF previously reported.
Wu’s office and Opportunity Communities did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
“The City’s Anti-Displacement Action Plan utilizes a faulty race-based risk assessment tool to inform public investments,” HUD wrote. “The City intends to direct public resources to areas based, in part, on the percentage of residents who are non-white. Whiter areas with higher percentages of ‘native English speaking residents’ will be deprioritized as the City allocates housing resources.”
Boston is also partnering with the private sector for its racial agenda as it creates “discriminatory housing plans” with Opportunity Communities, HUD alleged, quoting what it said was a deleted page from the nonprofit’s website. “Our goal is to employ a racial disparity lens to address housing supply, affordability, and financing,” says the page cited in the complaint. “We seek to sponsor race-conscious buyer selection for affordable homes with greater owner access to the equity and appreciation of their homes.”
Additionally, HUD described the City’s various pressure campaigns on the private sector. “Through the Boston Home Center, the City intends to induce banks and mortgage lenders to increase their lending in communities based on the racial demographics of the area,” the agency alleged, citing official city documents. The complaint also quoted Boston’s proposal to offer properties for development as long as participants “submit a Diversity and Inclusion Plan which reflects the extent to which the proponent plans to include … participation, employment, and management roles by people of color.”
Boston made no effort to hide its race-preferential philosophy, HUD said. As further evidence, the complaint cited Wu’s December Christmas party invite to “electeds of color,” which brought public criticism.
Wu said at the time that she emailed the invite “to everyone by accident” and was “sorry for any confusion this may have caused.”
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