HUD's draft of an AFFH "tool" falls short

Dec. 4, 2014 — The process of getting an “affirmatively futhering fair housing” (“AFFH”) rule out of HUD has been remarkably belabored.  ADC’s Westchester case, which yielded a consent decree in the summer of 2009, was what gave the initial impetus to try to make the AFFH process more meaningful, and a rule was first supposed to be out early in 2010. Yet years passed before a rule was proposed in 2013. That proposed rule fetishized analysis to the detriment of action, as ADC pointed out in comments last year. The rule has still not been finalized.

More recently, HUD has proposed a “tool” designed to help jurisdictions meet their AFFH obligations. Unfortunately, this proposal falls short, too.  The comments period has now closed on that proposal, too. ADC’s comments are below. We have also posted the comments of some other civil rights and housing rights organizations.