(CNN) The Obama administration announced Wednesday a new rule aimed at promoting fair housing, nearly 50 years after the Fair Housing Act of 1968 was passed to combat segregation and wide-spread discrimination in neighborhoods across the country.

Despite the decades old law requiring communities that receive federal funds to increase access to quality, affordable housing, many communities in the U.S. -- in cities like Chicago and Baltimore -- remain segregated by race and income. Often these majority-minority communities lack access to good schools, grocery stores and to the kinds of opportunities necessary to help residents rise out of poverty.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development said the regulations will provide communities that receive HUD funding with data and tools that will help them meet fair housing obligations and goals for affordable housing and community development.

"As a former mayor, I know firsthand that strong communities are vital to the well-being and prosperity of families," HUD Secretary Julián Castro said in a statement. "Unfortunately, too many Americans find their dreams limited by where they come from, and a ZIP code should never determine a child's future."

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