CLPHA Advocacy

Today, HUD’s proposed rule on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) was published in the Federal Register. The new rule comes after HUD sought comment on amendments to AFFH regulations through its Streamlining and Enhancements Notice in late 2018.

In our comments on the 2018 Streamlining Notice, CLPHA and Reno & Cavanaugh advocated that in a new rule, HUD should implement safe harbors that would provide protection for PHAs making reasonable efforts to affirmatively further fair housing, provide additional resources to PHAs for data collection and other activities required to analyze impediments to fair housing, and incorporate a more nuanced view on fair housing strategies that includes preservation and revitalization efforts.

The new proposed rule contains substantial revisions to the process of documenting, monitoring, and evaluating AFFH compliance. The proposed changes include:

• A new definition of what it means to AFFH;
•  A new compliance process in which jurisdictions would submit at least three goals that it plans to focus on to “advance fair housing choice”;
• A scoring system, using metrics that are yet to be determined, to evaluate AFFH compliance and identify “high-performing” jurisdictions;
• Rewards to those jurisdictions deemed high-performing on AFFH, such as preference points on NOFAs as well as additional program funding from “reallocations of recaptured appropriated funds and other forms of regulatory relief.”

Despite significant proposed changes, HUD has largely ignored comments from CLPHA and other industry groups on ways to create a more reasonable AFFH compliance process and recognize good-faith efforts that PHAs are making to affirmatively further fair housing. Instead, HUD is proposing a new AFFH process that may be just as burdensome and opaque as the 2015 assessment tool. Some of the metrics that HUD is proposing to use in the evaluation scoring system, such as housing prices, are well beyond a PHA’s control while other metrics, such as level of HCV reserves, are far outside the scope of an evaluation of AFFH activities.

CLPHA is also concerned about HUD’s use of a “rewards” system for high-performing jurisdictions that includes NOFA points, program funds, and deregulation opportunities. Such a system would monetize AFFH compliance and allow some PHAs to benefit from AFFH compliance while penalizing others.

Comments are due on March 16. CLPHA and Reno & Cavanaugh will be submitting comments on the proposed rule and CLPHA will announce plans shortly for soliciting member feedback.

Questions about the rule can be addressed to Senior Research & Policy Analyst Emily Warren at ewarren@clpha.org.

Today, HUD issued a press release to announce its new proposed rule on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH). The rule, which has not yet been published in the Federal Register, comes after HUD suspended the PHA tool in early 2018 that was designed to help PHAs meet their obligation to affirmatively further fair housing. In late 2018, HUD sought comment on amendments to AFFH regulations through its Streamlining and Enhancements Notice.

In our 2018 comments, CLPHA and Reno & Cavanaugh advocated that in a new rule, HUD should implement safe harbors that would provide protection for PHAs making reasonable efforts to affirmatively further fair housing, provide additional resources to PHAs for data collection and other activities required to analyze impediments to fair housing, and incorporate a more nuanced view on fair housing strategies that includes preservation and revitalization efforts.

The new proposed rule contains substantial revisions to the process for PHAs to demonstrate that they are fulfilling their AFFH obligations. Among other changes, the rule proposes: a new definition of what constitutes affirmatively furthering fair housing; three data points that HUD will use to evaluate whether PHAs are meeting their AFFH obligations and determine high-performing AFFH agencies; new incentives such as NOFA preference points for agencies that are high-performing; and a new oversight process that would substantially curtail HUD’s previous practices for ensuring AFFH compliance.

CLPHA and Reno & Cavanaugh will be submitting comments on the proposed rule. CLPHA will provide further analysis of the rule and announce plans for soliciting member feedback after the rule is published. The comment period will open once the rule is officially published in the Federal Register.

Questions about the rule can be addressed to Senior Research & Policy Analyst Emily Warren at ewarren@clpha.org.