I. Purpose
It is HUD's mission to promote non-discrimination and ensure fair
and equal housing opportunities for all. In an ongoing effort to
provide services and activities on a nondiscriminatory manner and
to affirmatively further fair housing,
HUD is charged by law to implement and enforce a wide array of civil
rights laws, not only for members of the public in search of fair
housing, but for HUD funded grant recipients as well. HUD is also
charged with ensuring the successful operation of specific enforcement
of housing programs. The array of laws, executive orders, regulations,
etc. are collectively known as civil rights requirements and called
"Civil Rights Related Program Requirements (CRRPRs)."
II. Non-discrimination
HUD-funded
grant recipients are obligated under various laws not to discriminate
in housing or services directly or indirectly on the basis of race,
color, religion, sex, national origin, age, familial status, or
disability. HUD rules further require that recipients of Federal
financial assistance comply with civil rights-related program requirements
(CRRPRs) that affect nearly every aspect of each program. HUD's
non-discrimination requirements are compiled from several different
federal laws designed to protect each individual's right to fair
housing and equal opportunity.
III.
Affirmative Strategies
A.
Fair Housing Act
A
strong commitment to affirmatively further fair housing is not only
one of the Department's guiding principles, it is a requirement
for participating in HUD's many housing and community development
programs. The Fair Housing Act specifies that the Secretary of Housing
and Urban Development shall administer programs and activities relating
to housing and urban development in a manner that affirmatively
furthers the policies outlined in section
808 (e) 5. This responsibility is assigned to HUD funded recipients
as well, through:
Some
examples of ways to carry out these requirements include:
- Establishing fair housing enforcement organizations in areas
where there are no such organizations;
-
For public housing agencies, starting a counseling program to
help
housing choice voucher recipients to find housing outside of minority
and/or poverty concentrated areas;
-
Outreach to housing providers in non-minority and poverty concentrated
areas;
-
Marketing available housing to persons less likely to apply for
housing in
a metropolitan statistical area;
-
Encouraging banks and other lending organizations to operate in
areas that are underserved and to provide services to underserved
populations; and
-
Encouraging banks and other lenders to use non-traditional methods
for evaluating credit and loan amount terms, based on cultural
differences and other individual factors.
B. Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended
The
Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, as amended, is the
dominant statute for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)
program. It requires that each federal grantee certify to HUD's
satisfaction that (1) the awarded grant will be carried out and
administered according to the Fair Housing Act, and (2) the grantee
will work diligently to affirmatively further fair housing. This
certification to HUD may be implemented through the Consolidated
Plan process.
Under
the Consolidated Plan, HUD funded recipients are required to: (1)
examine and attempt to alleviate housing discrimination within their
jurisdiction; (2) promote fair housing choice for all persons; (3)
provide opportunities for all persons to reside in any given housing
development, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, disability,
familial status, or national origin; (4) promote housing that is
accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities; (5) and comply
with the non-discrimination requirements of the Fair Housing Act.
HUD
encourages jurisdictions to consult with one another and initiate
metropolitan wide area fair housing planning. The Fair Housing Planning
Guide provides information to State, State funded, and Entitlement
jurisdictions on how they may take steps to affirmatively further
fair housing. Check out the Fair
Housing Planning Guide to learn more about Affirmatively Furthering
Fair Housing.
- Certification of Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing
State
and Entitlement recipients are required to sign a certification
to affirmatively further fair housing. As part of the jurisdiction's
Consolidated Plan, these recipients are required to undertake
fair housing planning. Fair Housing Planning consists of the following:
(1) an Analysis of Impediments (AI) to fair housing choice; (2)
actions to cover the effects of the identified impediments; and
(3) maintenance of records to support the affirmatively furthering
fair housing certification.
-
Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice (AI)
Analysis
of Impediments (AI) is a review of impediments or barriers that
affect the rights of fair housing choice. It covers public and
private policies, practices, and procedures affecting housing
choice. Impediments to fair housing choice are defined as any
actions, omissions, or decisions that restrict, or have the effect
of restricting, the availability of housing choices, based on
race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national
origin. The AI serves as the basis for fair housing planning,
provides essential information to policy makers, administrative
staff, housing providers, lenders, and fair housing advocates,
and assists in building public support for fair housing efforts.
Conducting an analysis of impediments is a required component
of certification and involves the following:
- An
extensive review of a State or Entitlement jurisdiction's
laws, regulations, and administrative policies, procedures,
and practices;
-
An assessment of how those laws affect the location, availability,
and accessibility of housing;
-
An evaluation of conditions, both public and private, affecting
fair housing choice for all protected classes; and
-
An assessment of the availability of affordable, accessible
housing in a range of unit sizes.
On
September 2, 2004, an Analysis
of Impediments Memorandum was signed by the Assistant Secretaries
for the Offices of Community Planning and Development and Fair Housing
and Equal Opportunity. This memorandum gives guidance to HUD field
offices regarding the requirements of the Consolidated Plan to prepare
an Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice.
3. Affirmatively
Furthering Fair Housing in the Community Development Block Grant
Program.
C. The
Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 (QHWRA)
The
Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act of 1998 applies to public
housing and public housing agency-administered (PHA) Housing Choice
Voucher programs. The purpose of the QHWRA is to: (1) deregulate
public housing agencies; (2) provide more flexible use of Federal
assistance to PHAs; (3) open the door to mixed income communities;
(4) decrease concentrations of poverty in public housing; (5) increase
accountability and reward effective management of PHAs; (6) create
incentives and economic opportunities for residents assisted by
PHAs to work and become self-sufficient; (7) join the Section 8
voucher and certificate programs into a single program; (8) remedy
the problems of troubled PHAs; and (9) replace or revitalize severely
distressed public housing projects.
1.
PHAs must certify to the affirmatively furthering fair housing requirements
in their annual public housing agency plans (PHAPs). PHAs may conduct
their own AIs or ensure their annual PHAPs are consistent with the
applicable jurisdiction's Consolidated Plan and AIs.
2. Under 24 CFR 903.2(d)(1) and (2), PHAs must enforce their tenant
selection and assignment plans in a nondiscriminatory manner and
must take affirmative steps to reduce "racial and national
origin concentrations."
3. According to 24 CFR 903.7(o), the civil rights certification
says that the PHA must also certify that it will affirmatively further
fair housing. This compliance is achieved by fulfilling the requirements
of Sec. 903.2(b): (1) Examines its programs or proposed programs;
(2) Identifies any impediments to fair housing choice within those
programs; (3) Addresses those impediments in a reasonable fashion
in view of the resources available; (4) Works with local jurisdictions
to implement any of the jurisdiction's initiatives to affirmatively
further fair housing that require PHA involvement; (5) and maintains
records reflecting these analyses and actions.
a.
Examples
Affirmative
Fair Housing Marketing Plan (AFHMP)
The AFHMP guides HUD's effort to ensure that prospective funding
recipients will follow the Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Regulations
found in the Code of Federal Regulations (section 24 CFR 200.600,
Subpart M). This requires each applicant to develop, and put in
place an affirmative program that will attract potential consumers
or tenants of all minority and non-minority groups within the housing
market, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin,
disability, or familial status. The purpose of such programs is
to provide services designed to affirmatively further the fair housing
objectives stated in Title
VIII of the Fair Housing Act.
Each
applicant is to pursue affirmative fair housing marketing policies
by seeking out possible buyers and tenants, and advertising available
housing properties. Examples of such action include:
- Advertising the availability of housing to the population that
is less likely to apply, both minority and non-minority groups,
through various forms of media (i.e. radio stations, posters,
newspapers) within the marketing area;
- Educate persons within an organization about fair housing and
their obligations to follow nondiscrimination laws; and
- Conduct outreach to advocacy groups (i.e. disability rights
groups) on the availability of housing.
Voluntary Activities
The
Fair Housing Act requires HUD to develop voluntary programs to achieve
fair housing goals. For example, HUD's Voluntary Affirmative Marketing
program is designed to engage the private sector, including builders,
developers, lenders, and the real estate industry, in national and
local efforts to improve housing choice. Voluntary efforts include
local agreements to further fair housing, the establishment of citizen
Community Housing Resource Boards (CHRB) to maximize communication
among racial and ethnic minorities, women, and the real estate industry,
in connection with enforcement of the agreements.
Opportunity
(Mobility) Counseling Program
The
Opportunity Counseling Program, also known as Mobility Counseling
Program, is designed to assist families with Housing Choice Vouchers
(formally known as Section 8) to move from high-poverty to low-poverty
neighborhoods. Public housing agencies, in partnership with local
non-profit organizations, provide counseling services and conduct
outreach to landlords. The five major objectives of this program
are to:
- Expand landlord participation in the Housing Choice Voucher
Program and increase the number and diversity of neighborhoods
in which Housing Opportunity Voucher families live;
- Assist and encourage Housing Choice Voucher Program families
to move to low poverty neighborhoods that offer quality housing,
education, and employment opportunities;
- Address existing barriers to mobility and opportunity in the
Housing Choice Voucher Program, including administrative barriers
to portability;
- Promote greater cooperation and joint problem solving among
Housing Choice Voucher Programs operating in a metropolitan housing
market; and
- Create or strengthen institutions that administer the Housing
Choice Voucher Program on a regional basis, including the provision
of regional mobility counseling.
Relocation
Most
HUD programs provide for fair housing counseling for families displaced
by grantee activities. The fair housing provisions of the Uniform
Relocation Act (URA) states that "
a replacement dwelling
is to be provided to a minority person in an area of non-minority
concentration
the minority person must be given, if possible,
referrals to comparable and suitable decent, safe, and sanitary
replacement dwellings not located in such areas." These requirements
apply to Community Planning Development, Housing, and Public Housing
programs.
D.
Super Notice of Funding Availability (SuperNOFA)
Affirmatively
Furthering Fair Housing Requirements in the Super Notice of Funding
Availability
HUD
has developed requirements for the Department's annual Super Notice
of Funding Availability to ensure that HUD and HUD-funded recipients
work against discrimination, and toward affirmatively furthering
fair housing.
HUD's
SuperNOFA specifies the amount of funds available and the requirements
for each grant within programs operated and administered by HUD.
The General Section of the SuperNOFA provides application procedures
and requirements relevant to all programs in the SuperNOFA. Applicants
applying for HUD funding must affirmatively further fair housing,
as well as meet required civil rights threshold requirements found
in the general section of the SuperNOFA.
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