An earlier post on this website gave an example of how the Federal Government took actions against a community in Missouri for discriminatory housing practices. Attached is a link to an article that describes some recent actions that the Department of Housing and Urban Development may take against communities that demonstrate discriminatory practices.
As stated in earlier posts on this website, there is a Federal investigation of Oakland Township underway regarding alleged discriminatory practices regarding the Blossom Ridge development.
At the last Oakland Township Board meeting, Supervisor Gonser indicated that there have been ongoing discussions with the Blossom Ridge developer to resolve some of the concerns of the citizens. At that meeting, the developer’s attorney described revisions to the plan that they were willing to make to arrive at a mutually agreeable plan. Citizen comments at that meeting were not supportive of the proposed changes.
If the Board of Oakland Township is not successful in coming up with a mutually agreeable plan, and the Federal Investigation determines that Oakland Township has demonstrated discriminatory practices and policies, we may be subject to the Federal government’s decisions as described in the attached web article.
The citizens of Oakland Township need to encourage the Board to come up with a mutually agreeable plan for the Blossom Ridge development.
The Board is playing “Russian roulette”. We may lose total control of what is developed, and the Township may have to pay fines if the investigation finds the Township guilty of discriminatory practices.
Here is the link to the October 14, 2013 website article:
http://m.weeklystandard.com/articles/hud-s-power-grab_759151.html
Richard Michalski
Oakland Township Watchers 
I think this post is a bit on the alarmist side. To say that the township may, if the HUD investigation finds discrimination, “be subject to the Federal government’s decisions as described in the attached web article.” does not admit to one important fact. The fact is that the action being taken against Westchester County is based on that County’s participation in HUD grant programs and its receipt of grant funds. To my knowledge,The Blossom Ridge project does not involve any HUD grant money. Oakland Township has received small amounts of HUD Community Development Block Grant money over the years but I doubt that, in doing so, they have committed to any Affirmative Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) actions like Westchester County did. So, I don’t think you can draw a correct analogy between the article and the Blossom Ridge investigation.
Jim Foulkrod
Thanks for your input Jim. You are correct in that Blossom Ridge does not involve any grant money. However, since HUD is performing the investigation, their aggressive approach on issues as described in the article COULD influence how they approach other matters such as Blossom Ridge. Yes, the information provided may be alarmist, but having an understanding of what is going on in Washington that could influence the outcome of the Blossom Ridge matter is of value.