Good intentions or power grab? HUD unveils regs to diversify neighborhoods

Good intentions or power grab? HUD unveils regs to diversify neighborhoods | Fox News: "WASHINGTON –  The Obama administration announced new rules on Wednesday that are meant to racially integrate America's neighborhoods but some conservatives claim are an attempt by Washington to play a heavy-handed role in creating “utopias.”
The new HUD housing rule comes on the heels of a landmark Supreme Court decision that reaffirmed the federal agency’s power to ban housing policies that hurt minorities.
The Fair Housing Act, which originally was passed in 1968 and barred racial discrimination, demanded the government end segregation.
The new rule takes this a step further and requires cities across the country to scrutinize their housing patterns for racial bias and report the results every three to five years.
Communities would also have to set and track goals to further reduce segregation.
...But others say the rule is nothing short of a government power grab.
“This overreaching new regulation is an attempt to extort communities into giving up control of local zoning decisions and reengineer the makeup of our neighborhoods,” Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., told FoxNews.com in a written statement on Wednesday.
...Gosar believes the proposal will have far-reaching consequences that only boosts the federal government’s power over where homes can be built and who can live in them.
...“This rule is not about racial integration; racial segregation in housing is illegal and has been for decades,” Heritage Foundation fellow Hans von Spakovsky told FoxNews.com.
“Americans have the ability to live anywhere they want.
This is about left-wing, progressive social urban planners who have taken control through the Obama administration who hate suburbs and don’t like Americans using cars or owning single family homes in neighborhoods that are not high-density.”
Von Spakovsky believes the rule will make things worse for the poor...."