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Tag Archives: access
Access Means Everything!
Members of the Idaho Access Project spoke with several dozen architects, attorneys, and fair housing advocates on May 5 as part of the Intermountain Fair Housing Council’s 2023 workshop series. While the focus was on access in all aspects of life, the session included a comparison between fair housing design and construction requirements and Visitability.
Topics
Inclusive planning and design for mobility, access, safety and connectivity;
Visitability in single-family residential housing development;
Inclusive Recreation and Tourism, and
Integrating people with disabilities in civic, cultural and
Idaho Fair Housing Forum members are gearing up for April, and we’d like to share a few activities and resources below with our partners and community stakeholders. While fair housing and related laws apply every day, each year we join with others to draw attention to the rights, responsibilities and economic benefits of housing choice and equity.
States and communities that receive federal funds—particularly from HUD—are required to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing (AFFH) in several ways. The AFFH requirements include, “taking 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 characteristics.”
Meaningful actions accomplish two key outcomes:
more fair housing choice
reducing disparities in access to opportunity
Forum partners typically pursue these outcomes through partnerships that increase awareness of fair housing law through conferences, sponsored training opportunities, and outreach materials. HUD program administrators must also demonstrate concrete steps taken to ensure that subrecipients of HUD funds are pursuing AFFH practices that support equity in programs, activities, resources and facilities.
In the case of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds at the state level, Idaho Commerce requires the following AFFH actions of all sub recipients
Free Education and Outreach Materials. IHFA produced a series of fair housing materials as part of its FHIP-EOI grant in 2020 and 2021. Print materials and videos are available at no cost on request.
Additional background and resources that help put AFFH requirements in context:
Segregated by DesignThis short film tracks the “forgotten history of how our federal, state and local governments unconstitutionally segregated every major metropolitan area in America through law and policy.”
Seven DaysAward-winning film by Nationwide Insurance and the National Fair Housing Alliance chronicles daily events between the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King April 4, 1968 and passage of the Fair Housing Act April 11, 1968
House RulesThis collaborative journalism project describes how where we live determines our access to essential community assets, economic opportunity and social capital. And it looks at the role and fate of George Romney, the first individual charged with implementing the Fair Housing Act.
2022-2027 AI: What cities and counties should know about fair housing (pending) Broad-brush overview of important context and concepts for Idaho communities to understand, with references to the most recent Statewide Analysis of Impediments covering Idaho’s non-entitlement (balance of state) jurisdictions served by Idaho Commerce and IHFA.
2021 APA Idaho Conference: Analysis of Impediments Session
The Idaho Housing and Finance Association (IHFA) and Idaho Commerce are working with Root Policy Research on the state of Idaho 2021 Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing (AI), and several Idaho entitlement communities have contracted with Resource Consultants to conduct AI studies at the local level.
As part of efforts to raise awareness of the rights and responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act, IHFA proposed a session for this year’s APA Idaho conference to help planning professionals and other officials understand how the AI process works, and what it means to Idahoans, local government and taxpayers, and to community and economic stability.
The June 22, 2021 Fair Housing webinar focused on fair housing considerations for people with disabilities. Several key stakeholders involved in disability rights and advocacy participated in the discussion of fair housing protections in light of the current housing crisis, which impacts people with disabilities and other protected classes much harder that it does the general population.
One question came up in the follow-up discussion:
What is the statute of limitations on filing a fair housing complaint? HUD’s position:
FHEO begins its complaint investigation process shortly after receiving a complaint. You must file your complaint within one year of the last date of the alleged discrimination under the Fair Housing Act. Other civil rights authorities allow for complaints to be filed after one year for good cause, but FHEO recommends filing as soon as possible.
The group agreed that those in the areas of housing and community development would benefit from a more inclusive planning and design process that engages people with disabilities to inform strategies that make communities more livable and affordable to everyone.
Links to session materials and referenced resources:
