As part of their Community Development Block Grant obligations, local communities are required to submit an Assessment of Furthering Fair Housing to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD failed to do this job until 2015, when it adopted the first effective AFFH regulation. Unfortunately, too many jurisdictions have taken HUD funds but failed to fulfill their AFFH obligations. HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) works to eliminate housing discrimination and promote civil rights and economic opportunity through housing. These civil rights laws include obligations such as taking reasonable steps to ensure meaningful access to their programs and activities for persons with limited English proficiency (LEP) and taking appropriate steps to ensure effective communication with individuals with disabilities through the provision of appropriate auxiliary aids and services. Further, Congress intended that HUD programs be used to expand housing choices and help make all neighborhoods places of opportunity, providing their residents with access to the community assets and resources they need to flourish. The AFFH rule i s a critically important tool for addressing the housing discrimination caused by historical and systemic racism in our cities, towns and comm unities. Learn more about the many fair housing laws enforced by FHEO and how those laws can help you.It is illegal to discriminate in the sale or rental of housing, including against individuals seeking a mortgage or housing assistance, or in other housing-related activities.
Here’s information about another housing authority in North Carolina in which the employees of a public housing authority were systemically sexually harassing women. Advocates and resident of Coal Run had to ultimately sue the city and Water Authority in order to get water.
The CT Fair Housing Center has put together a training to help recipients of federal funds understand how they can affirmatively further fair housing. Various federal fair housing and civil rights laws require HUD and its program participants to affirmatively further the purposes of the Fair Housing Act.HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO) works to eliminate housing discrimination and promote civil rights and economic opportunity through housing. Just as another example, residents of the Baltimore Public Housing Authority won a fair housing claim against the housing authority after it had engaged in long-running practices to create and perpetuate segregation.
Under the new Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing final rule , issued by HUD in July 2015, HUD grantees are required to prepare an Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH) for their jurisdictions. In recent years, HUD increased oversight of its grantees’ fair housing compliance, and took steps to give them better tools to ensure they are connecting all of their residents to opportunity, regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, family status or disability.____________________________________________________________________________________HUD received nearly 1,000 comments on the proposed rule, including In conjunction with the rule, HUD now provides its grantees with a format to use for analyzing local and regional fair housing issues, known as the Along with the Assessment Tool, HUD also provides its grantees (and the public) with data, analytical tools and mapping tools (known as the “ AFFH data and mapping tool, or AFFH-T”) to help them carry out their responsibilities under the new rule. Each jurisdiction is required to submit a certification that it will affirmatively further fair housing by addressing at least three goals towards fair housing choice or obstacles to fair housing choice, identified by the jurisdiction, that the jurisdiction intends to achieve or ameliorate, respectively. Therefore, on May 8, 2018, NFHA, Texas Appleseed and Texas Housers filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that HUD had violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Fair Housing Act.
The AFH process uncovered this issue and helped them formulate a plan that they believe will help them provide better assistance to residents.
All applicants for participation in Federal Housing Agency (FHA) subsidized and unsubsidized multifamily housing programs with five or more units (see 24 CFR 200.615) must complete this Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan (AFHMP) form as specified in 24 CFR 200.625, and in accordance with the requirements in 24 CFR 200.620. The Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing provision was part of the Fair Housing Act when it was passed by Congress in 1968. Various federal fair housing and civil rights laws require HUD and its program participants to affirmatively further the purposes of the Fair Housing Act. Description. This commitment extends to all housing programs managed or owned by SDHC and to all grant-funded programs provided by SDHC.
The San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) is committed to affirmatively furthering fair housing by promoting fair and equal housing opportunities for individuals living in the City of San Diego. seq.