AFFH Proposed Rule Published 2/9/23

HUD’s long-awaited Proposed Rule for Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) was posted in the Federal Register February 9, 2023. This starts the clock ticking for the official 60-day Public Comment period that ends April 10, 2023.

To view the Proposed Rule, click here.

What is AFFH and what does the Proposed Rule mean? The AFFH provision was part of the original Fair Housing Act (FHA) of 1968, and its obligations extend to federal agencies administering housing and urban development programs. AFFH requires funding recipients to “take meaningful actions—in addition to combating discrimination—that overcome patterns of segregation and foster inclusive communities free from barriers that restrict access to opportunity based on protected classes.


Bipartisan Policy Center Deep Dive into the AFFH Proposed Rule


However, the federal government has long been criticized for failing to enforce FHA requirements or provide participants with meaningful guidance. This has allowed discriminatory practices and harm resulting from segregation, discrimination, and disinvestment based on protected class to persist in housing transactions, zoning laws and patterns of funding.

The broad, generational impacts of persistent and pervasive housing discrimination are clearly described in the short film ‘Segregated by Design.’ It contrasts de facto segregation—separation arising accidentally or through private discrimination—from de jure segregation, racially-explicit laws that keep people apart. AFFH represents our collective obligation to remedy or reverse the consequences of the resulting ‘unconstitutional residential landscape’ that has disadvantaged generations of people in protected classes.

The seven protected classes include:

  • Race
  • Color
  • National origin
  • Religion
  • Sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation per the Worden Memo)
  • Familial status (families with children under 18)
  • Disability

How AFFH relates to the FHA:

  • The FHA focuses on what is prohibited: discrimination in any housing transaction or “to make unavailable or deny” housing by any means.
  • AFFH is prescriptive; it requires federal funding recipients to take proactive and “meaningful actions” to address segregation and related barriers.

The AFFH Rule proposed in 2015 was meant to give teeth to the Fair Housing Act and address criticisms. To assist program participants, HUD created the AFFH-T, where the T refers to a customized Mapping Tool to streamline the data gathering and analysis process. The rule was subsequently rescinded in 2018, re-instated in 2021, and has undergone revisions in response to public comments. The updated AFFH provision introduces a modified version of the Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH) now referred to as an Equity Plan.

The Equity Plan—similar to the AFH or Analysis of Impediments (AI)—will be required every five years. Funding recipients with a current AI will have up to three years to begin work on their Equity Plan. With some variation based on the jurisdiction, the plan seeks to define and describe the following:

  • Demographics
  • Segregation and integration
  • Racially or ethnically concentrated areas of poverty (R/ECAPs)
  • Access to community assets
  • Access to affordable housing opportunities
  • Access to homeownership and economic opportunity
  • Policies and practices impacting fair housing

The planning process requires significant community engagement and an Equity Plan will be evaluated based on its ability to advance equity in housing, community development programs, and residents’ access to well-resourced areas, opportunity, and community assets.  Participants must identify and analyze fair housing data and issues, prioritize those issues, and commit to meaningful and measurable action to undertake fair housing goals.

Failure to take AFFH seriously to create or improve access to opportunities can result in additional HUD review, remediation, and in extreme cases, loss of federal funding. This ultimately harms local taxpayers, constituents and economies, and results in the loss of federal support for housing and community development (think rental assistance or housing development and support from Idaho Commerce) that benefits Idaho families, employers, businesses and communities.

Industry observations

In response to the previous administration’s move to rescind the AFFH, the CEO of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) expressed concern in a July 27, 2020 statement: “At a moment in our country’s history where the need to dismantle structural racism and segregation is so clear and present, HUD’s decision to terminate the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule represents a giant and shocking step backwards. Eliminating the AFFH rule will hurt not just renters by limiting where they can afford to live, but all of our communities and Americans who benefit from a fairer, more inclusive society.”

In a January 23rd statement from National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) President and CEO Diane Yentel, she makes clear that “…the 2015 AFFH regulation was an important step toward rectifying decades of racist housing policies that created today’s segregated neighborhoods and resulted in associated harm to children, families, and the country… More than ever, large-scale, sustained investments and anti-racist reforms are necessary to ensure that people with the lowest incomes have quality homes that are accessible and affordable in communities of their choice.”

The National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA) is also supportive of the new rule. On behalf of its members, the organization states that “…central to our overriding vision of an affordably housed nation is the goal of removing fair housing obstacles that impede anyone from accessing the affordable housing of their choice.

Additional reference materials

Fair Housing Training: Equal Access

Thursday, December 15th at 9am – 3pm

Boise City Hall

Our Path Home is honored to partner with Intermountain Fair Housing Council (IFHC) to provide an in-depth training on Fair Housing: Equal Access presented by Zoe Ann Olsen the Executive Director at the IFHC.

REGISTER HERE

During the Equal Access Training you will gain an understanding of Fair Housing Basics, Equal Access Rules, and Reasonable Accommodations/Modifications. Practical Training Scenarios and a Q&A Session will also be included to ensure a deep understanding of material. This training is recommended to anyone who owns, operates, or manages shelter and other facilities and providers of service funded by any HUD CPD program.  

In this training, you will learn about the 2016 Equal Access Rule that requires recipients of HUD’s CPD funding to grant equal access to such facilities and services in accordance with the individuals gender identity that affords equal access to individuals family. You will also partake in training scenarios, implementations of equal access rule, and be provided examples of anti-discrimination policies and HUD LGBTQ+ Homelessness Resources.

Zoe Ann Olson has been with IFHC for over a decade. She has extensive housing law experience including the Fair Housing Act (FHA), Idaho State housing law, reasonable accommodations and modifications, litigation concerning the FHA, public housing cases, wrongful evictions, repairs, security deposits, mobile home park cases, foreclosures, predatory lending, etc. Beginning in 2012 she has been the lead fair housing trainer throughout Idaho.

  • Where: Maryann Jordan Council Chambers at Boise City Hall
  • When: Thursday, December 15 from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
  • Lunch: A taco bar lunch will be provided

REGISTER HERE

 

Ending Homelessness in Ada County

Housing Segregation and Homelessness

RSVP HERE


Our Path Home is excited to announce a webinar learning experience open to all Our Path Home partners on April 22, 2022 from 3:00-4:30pm.

Dr. Jill Gill from Boise State University will be presenting an overview of the history of housing segregation, both nationally and in Idaho—including how it fit into a broader system of defacto segregation across the north, how it affected economic outcomes for black people in general, and what it looked like in Idaho (Boise and Pocatello specifically).

The history of housing segregation and discrimination are part of the foundation for the present state of homelessness. By learning our history, we can work to dismantle harmful systems and practices and create equitable ones in their place.

RSVP HERE

November 17 Forum Meeting, Fair Housing Basics

The first official monthly meeting of the Idaho Fair Housing Forum was hosted by IHFA and featured a training on Fair Housing Basics by attorney Brian Stephens with the Intermountain Fair Housing Council. See links below for a link to this and similar presentations on Fair Housing Basics.

Each regular monthly meeting highlights a training on a topic selected by participants in advance. Quarterly meetings are more open-ended opportunities for conversation and discussion of fair housing trends, challenges and related issues.