HUD posted 36 frequently asked questions (FAQs) about the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) regulation. The FAQs address: a description of AFFH and the AFFH rule, the AFFH data and mapping tool, the Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH), community participation requirements, and implementing the AFFH rule.
Three of the FAQs stress the balanced approach to AFFH, one describing it to include both place-based and mobility strategies. The first FAQ points out that place-based and mobility strategies are not mutually exclusive.
Place-based strategies may include but are not limited to:
- Making investments in segregated, high poverty neighborhoods that improve conditions and eliminate disparities in access to opportunity between residents of those neighborhoods and the rest of the jurisdiction and region.
- Maintaining and preserving existing affordable rental housing stock, including HUD-assisted housing, to reduce disproportionate housing needs.
Mobility strategies may include but are not limited to:
- Developing affordable housing in areas of opportunity to combat segregation and promote integration.
- Providing greater access to existing affordable housing in areas of opportunity, for instance through mobility counseling for Housing Choice Voucher households.
- Creating housing mobility programs that effectively connect low income residents of segregated areas to affordable housing in integrated areas, providing greater access to opportunity.
A second FAQ answers the question, “Is HUD moving away from revitalizing struggling neighborhoods?” The answer is no, HUD does not support continued disinvestment in racially and ethnically concentrated areas of poverty. Continued disinvestment in struggling areas does not promote fair housing choice or equal access to opportunity. HUD supports a balanced approach to AFFH that encourages a variety of activities that connect housing and community development policy and investment planning with meaningful actions that affirmatively further fair housing. A balanced approach includes both place-based strategies, such as revitalizing impacted neighborhoods, and mobility strategies, as appropriate depending on local context.
A third FAQ makes clear that HUD is not mandating construction of affordable housing, relocation of people to more affluent communities, or race-based quotas to achieve integration. HUD supports a balanced approach to affirmatively furthering fair housing that keeps decision making in the hands of local communities and does not impose any particular strategy for overcoming impediments to fair housing choice. However, program participants are required to take meaningful actions to overcome historic patterns of segregation, promote fair housing choice, and foster inclusive communities free from discrimination.
The FAQs are at http://bit.ly/2dd5ndC
More information about AFFH is available on NLIHC’s AFFH webpage, http://bit.ly/2dxHJtT, and on page 7-4 of NLIHC’s 2016 Advocates’ Guide, http://bit.ly/1WiozGd