New York Housing Conference submitted comments on HUD’s proposed new affirmatively furthering fair housing (AFFH) regulation (Docket No. FR-6250-P-01). The AFFH mandate is a provision of the Fair Housing Act of 1968. However, decades after the passage of this landmark legislation, it went unenforced. The 2015 AFFH rule sought to address this longstanding barrier to full enforcement of the Fair Housing Act but was postponed in 2018 and repealed in 2020. NYHC commends HUD for not only returning to fulfill this promise but for incorporating much of the 2015 AFFH guidance in this new proposed rule while also seeking to reduce some of the challenges jurisdictions faced in implementing the earlier version by creating a simpler and streamlined analysis.
NYHC expressed overall support for the proposed rule, particularly the requirement for an analysis of how Local and State policies and practices such as zoning impact fair housing. NYHC is also especially supportive of the rule’s emphasis of a “balanced approach” allowing combination of place-based and mobility strategies and actions to address fair housing issues such as investing in low-income communities to preserve existing affordable housing or implementing zoning reforms to expand access to higher opportunity neighborhoods. We also called for more data collection resources to support local zoning and housing supply analyses as well as funding and technical assistance to support localities in their community engagement efforts.
Read NYHC’s full comments here