While it's true that housing discrimination did not originate with Donald Trump, it is also true that, as president, the housing policies he has advanced through the office of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) headed by Ben Carson are exacerbating decades-old issues.
Recently, the Trump administration announced two rule revisions predicted to worsen housing segregation.
One relieves suburban communities of the obligation to revoke policies and practices responsible for creating or continuing segregation.
The other relieves retail banks which accept deposits from low-income neighborhood residents of an obligation to extend mortgages and other credit services to them.
Discrimination is nothing new to Donald Trump, particularly pertaining to housing.
Trump's racist record stretches all the way back to the 1970s when the Justice Department (DOJ) Civil Rights Division filed a lawsuit against Trump Management Company for violating the 1968 Fair Housing Act, which Donald Trump co-operated with his father, Fred Trump, .
Around the time Donald Trump was settling into the White House, the FBI released almost 400 pages of records about a four-decade old investigation it conducted into racial discrimination practices the Trumps imposed on apartment rental applicants.
Some records provide accounts of black applicants being turned away while white applicants were not.
A former doorman recalled a supervisor who "told me that if a black person came to 2650 Ocean Parkway and inquired about an apartment for rent, and he, that is [redacted] was not there at the time, that I should tell him that the rent was twice as much as it really was, in order that he could not afford the apartment."
At the time of the suit, the New York City Human Rights Division dispatched individuals to clandestinely test the complaint's veracity.
One of those individuals, Sheila Morse, recalled being sent out on an African American man's claim that he was denied consideration for an advertised apartment.
Morse stated:
"He met with the superintendent, and the superintendent said, 'I'm very sorry, but the apartment is rented it's gone.' So the gentlemen said to him, 'Well, why is the sign out? I still see a sign that says apartment for rent.' And the superintendent said, 'Oh, I guess I forgot to take it down.'"
But when Morse arrived at the same building asking about the same apartment, she received a different response:
"They greeted me with open arms and showed me every aspect of the apartment."
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