President Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed the “suburban housewife” demographic will be voting for him over presumptive Democratic candidate Joe Biden because of his efforts to roll back a low-income housing regulation that was passed by former President Barack Obama.
“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 [sic] Booker in charge!” Trump wrote, referring to the Democratic New Jersey senator.
Booker, as a presidential candidate last year, said he would plan to make housing more affordable and get rid of what he termed as housing discrimination.
Over the summer, Trump has campaigned as the 2020 candidate who would promote safe and peaceful conditions in American society following weeks of protests, civil unrest, riots, and anti-police sentiment in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
Namely, Trump was referring to the 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulation, which would require local municipalities to address racial and economic disparities. It was suspended by the Trump administration, which later abolished the rule last month.
Biden has said on his website that he will work to “eliminate local and state housing regulations that perpetuate discrimination,” saying that “exclusionary zoning” has been used to “keep people of color and low-income families out of certain communities.”
His plan would also expand the use of Section 8 vouchers and create laws to prohibit landlords from barring renters who use those vouchers.
Over the past several weeks, the president has accused Biden of wanting to destroy suburban areas.
“Your home will go down in value and crime rates will rapidly rise,” Trump said in July. “People have worked all their lives to get into a community, and now they’re going to watch it go to hell. Not going to happen, not while I’m here.”
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