HUD to Push Anti-Bias Effort, Seek More Low-Income Units

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry G. Cisneros said Monday that the Clinton Administration will step up enforcement of its anti-discrimination housing laws and press banks to lend more money for construction of residential units in low-income neighborhoods.

Speaking at a church east of the nation’s Capitol, Cisneros also pledged to about 500 members of the Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now that he would “upgrade and expand” agency efforts to uncover housing discrimination.

The efforts, he said, would include sending whites and blacks of the same economic level into communities to rent apartments or attempt to secure loans. The responses they encounter could help the agency discern patterns of discrimination.

“We will have strong enforcement,” he said. “We will go farther than that. We will work with other organizations. . . . They must carry out their responsibility for affordable housing. HUD will oversee that process and make sure that they are responsive.”

The promises by Cisneros to help expand affordable housing were met with bursts of applause and cheers by members of the association, which represents low- and moderate-income families from across the country. They were here for a national legislative conference.

Part of the group’s agenda includes having more input at the local level as cities and states develop their Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategies--documents that must be filed with Cisneros’ department in exchange for housing funds.

During his speech, Cisneros spoke of the problems facing his department when he took over two weeks ago, calling it a “near disaster” without proper accounting for the number of federally funded housing units nationwide.