HUD Fair Housing rule now on the books

HUD will not fund local governments ' Assessments of Fair Housing requirements 

In the last day of 2015, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published its final rule in the Federal Register on the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Assessment Tool for local governments preparing Assessments of Fair Housing (AFH). The Assessment Tool is a guide that program participants who currently receive formula funding from the Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG), the Home Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) and the Emergency Solutions Grants Program (ESG) must use to conduct their fair housing assessments. HUD also released the AFFH Rule Guidebook, an updated data and mapping tool and a user interface to complete an AFH.

HUD will issue separate assessment tools for states to use and for public housing authorities (PHA) that choose to submit separately from the city-county region or with other PHAs. No AFH will be due before Oct. 4.

The AFH for local governments that received less than $500,000 in CDBG formula funding for FY15 would be due no earlier than October 2017. HUD is also encouraging grantees to conduct regional AFHs. To view a current schedule of the AFHs, go to www.hudexchange.info/programs/affh

The requirement to submit an AFH is set forth in HUD’s AFFH final regulations, released in the Federal Register in July 2015.  The final rule on the Assessment Tool incorporates changes made by HUD based on the comments received during the 30-day comment period in 2015, and the 90-comment period in 2014. NACo submitted comments to HUD on the AFH proposed rule in the fall of 2014 during the original comment period.

At that time, NACo expressed concerns about the potential financial and administrative burdens that the assessment tool would impose on counties. Without funding provided by HUD to local governments to carry out the tool’s requirements, NACo expressed concern that the tool was an unfunded mandate, and therefore asked HUD not to require its use.

For more information, contact Daria Daniel, associate legislative director.

• ddaniel@naco.org, 202.942.4212

HUD is not providing any financial assistance for program participants to implement this new process, but has said it will provide “robust” technical assistance.

NACo will continue to monitor the implementation process for HUD grantees, specifically, the impact on counties of the implementation of the AFH Assessment Tool.

In addition, NACo will work towards pursuing federal funding to assist program participants, including counties, in implementing this new process. 

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HUD’s fair housing assessment tool consists of a series of questions and instructions for program participants to identify fair housing issues such as racially and ethnically concentrated areas of poverty, patterns of integration and segregation, disparities in access to opportunity and disproportionate housing needs.

The Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Data and Mapping Tool provide general data and maps to help participants complete the Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH). Program participants are required to use the HUD data, and supplement it with local data and local knowledge to complete an informed assessment.

The AFFH Rule Guidebook provides guidance on the AFFH rule and how to complete an AFH, as well as the connection between  AFH and other planning processes required for participation in HUD programs. The user interface provides a secure, online portal for program participants to complete and submit an AFH. It is currently only available to program participants that have an AFH due in 2016. All other program participants will receive further instructions regarding access to the portal in spring 2016.

The Assessment Tool and other materials can be found on the AFFH page on HUD Exchange — www.hudexchange.info/programs/affh.