AFFIRMATIVELY FURTHERING FAIR HOUSING 

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The purpose of the Fair Housing Act is twofold: to end housing discrimination and to promote diverse, inclusive communities. The latter concept is known as Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH), and is concerned with fair access and equal opportunity. Our nation’s economic progress and competitiveness is best served by diverse, inclusive communities where everyone has access to good jobs, schools, health care, transportation, and housing.  

 

Due to the recent developments and focus that HUD has placed on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) National Fair Housing Alliance has compiled the following resources and materials:

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STATUTES

The Fair Housing Act

The Housing & Community Development Act of 1974

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HUD’s Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule
In 2013, the US Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD), the federal agency responsible for promulgating and enforcing the rules for the Fair Housing Act, issued a regulation that clearly outlines the process and implementation of the Fair Housing Act’s affirmatively furthering fair housing requirements for participants (states, counties, municipalities, and public housing agencies) of the program.

AFFH and Litigation

HUD enforces the Fair Housing Act, but housing discrimination, segregation, and AFFH cases have also been litigated by private parties. Certain court cases have affirmed that addressing segregation was part of what Congress intended when they passed the Fair Housing Act, and that HUD is authorized and required to address segregation in its program administration.

• Antidiscrimination Center of Metro New York, Inc., Plaintiff, -v- Westchester County, New York, Defendant (PDF)

• N.A.A.C.P., Boston Chapter, Plaintiff, Appellant, v. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, et al., Defendants, Appellees (PDF)

• Otero et al., Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. New York City Housing Authority et al., Defendants-Appellants (PDF)

 

Resources: Government Reports, Publications, and Guidance Memos

• Department of Housing and Urban Development AFFH Portal

• Proposed Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule (Government Printing Office PDF)

• HUD Fair Housing Planning Guide (Department of Housing and Urban Development PDF)

• Housing & Community Development Grants: HUD Needs to Enhance Its Requirements and Oversight of Jurisdictions’ Fair Housing Plans (Government Accountability Office PDF)

• Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice Reissuance (Department of Housing and Urban Development PDF)

• Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing in the Community Development Block Grant Program (Department of Housing and Urban Development PDF)

• Fair Housing Agencies eligible for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and other HUD program funding (Department of Housing and Urban Development PDF)

 

AFFH in the Popular Press

Nikole Hannah‐Jones, “Living Apart: How the Government Betrayed a Landmark Civil Rights Law,” ProPublica, October 29, 2012

“512: House Rules,” November 22, 2013. This American Life radio show