Policy

HAC Condemns Weak Fair Housing Rule

The Housing Assistance Council (HAC) strongly opposes the dismantling of the 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule. A new Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulation, announced in July and published in the Federal Register on August 7, willfully overlooks the history of racist housing policies that has created deep and persistent segregation in our country – in rural places, cities and suburbs – and ignores our moral obligation to correct segregation and its harmful effects.

The 2015 AFFH rule required that communities receiving federal subsidies must analyze racial segregation in housing and submit plans to reverse such trends. Even before this latest move to entirely dismantle AFFH, HUD’s current leadership weakened that regulation. The newest version, however, is essentially a full rollback of AFFH, asking local governments merely to “take any action that is rationally related to promoting one or more attributes of fair housing.”

This change contravenes the Fair Housing Act of 1968 – and it is especially egregious at this point in history, when Americans are finally recognizing the damage caused by our society’s racial inequities. Every family deserves a safe, affordable home in an inclusive community. HAC calls on HUD and all Americans to work together to end the cycle of racially segregated and under-resourced communities, and to protect and advance the intent of the Fair Housing Act.


HAC has previously submitted comments supporting the creation of the 2015 AFFH rule and, later, opposing its rollback: