In case you missed it, Ben Carson has been labeled as being “at odds with fair housing.” During his senate confirmation hearing last week, Carson was required to defend his position on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH), the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) controversial 100-page-plus contemporary interpretation of the Fair Housing Act.

It may sound appalling that anyone anywhere would be against fair housing. Still, there are sane reasons to object to the rule. Carson suggested a couple of possibilities; for example, he worries about Washington, D.C. administrators demanding that local communities “go looking for a [racial] problem” when no evidence of such a problem exists a priori.

If you don’t like intemperate federal agencies running riot, there is another process-related objection that Carson missed: AFFH may insert the federal agency into policy areas not even remotely authorized by the legislation it purportedly interprets.

The table below provides a comparison of the original Fair Housing Act language and AFFH language, so that you can decide for yourself:

HUD believes the rule merely implements the Fair Housing Act’s intent. You can form your own view.