The Small Area Fair Market Rent rule was supposed to make it easier for people who use Section 8 to be able to afford rent in areas that are safe and have better economic and educational opportunities. As it stands now, the amount that people get for Section 8 housing vouchers is based on rent formulas for a given metropolitan area, which means that they often can only afford rent in low-income and crime affected communities. "The rule change would have required — or will require — public housing authorities to calculate so-called fair market rents based on ZIP codes instead.”

The Small Area Fair Market Rent rule would, in effect, make housing vouchers worth more in more affluent areas and worth less in poorer communities. [...] While tweaking a rent subsidy formula sounds minor and technical, the policy could impact millions of low-income people, especially African-Americans, who represent a disproportionate number of voucher holders.

“The delay of this rule will have a segregative effect, denying these primarily African-American families who would want to move out of their neighborhoods the chance to do so,” said Ajmel Quereshi, a senior counsel with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, one of the groups that filed the lawsuit. “This case is about more than just housing. Of course, they hope to live in a higher-quality residences, but it’s really about people who want to move to better and safer neighborhoods, but they can’t because of the value of their voucher. It’s about schools and transportation and doctor visits and grocery stores that people want to be able to access to support their families.”

Moving into better and safer neighborhoods? For people of color? Nah. The Trump administration can’t have that. Better to relegate black people to urban hellholes and then blame them for black-on-black crime and NFL protests. Of course, delaying this policy also benefits Trump’s friends in the housing industry who make money off of the suffering of poor people of color in Section 8 housing.

The Small Area rule has been opposed by housing industry groups, such as the National Association of Home Builders, the National Apartment Association, and the National Multifamily Housing Council. The NAHB applauded the Trump administration’s suspension of the rule, which they had urged Carson to rescind in a private June meeting.

Trump famously asked on the campaign trail “what the hell do blacks have to lose?" through a Trump presidency. This wasn’t enough to compel blacks en masse to vote for him since we are pretty good at being able to detect a liar, abuser, and a fraud when we see one. But the answer to his question remains relevant. Blacks stand to lose any chance of getting closer to equal treatment and racial equity under the law during this administration. We aren’t even 10 months in yet and already the administration has done plenty to roll back progress. And sadly, they are only just getting started.