Last week, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) submitted public comments to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) urging the agency to reverse course on its new rule that seeks to weaken state and local governments’ duty to assess their communities and take active steps to address housing segregation while ensuring all neighborhoods have access to healthy air and water and community resources they need to thrive. In doing so, HUD undermines the goals of the 1968 Fair Housing Act, which remains law today.
LDF’s comment comes after HUD issued an interim final rule on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH), a key part of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. Because Congress directed HUD in 1968 to administer its programs and activities relating to housing and urban development in a manner that affirmatively furthers the policies of the Fair Housing Act, it must ensure state and local governments and housing agencies that receive federal funds are proactively addressing persistent barriers to fair housing and equal opportunity within their communities. However, HUD’s new rule allows jurisdictions to receive HUD funding without taking meaningful action to overcome these barriers.
LDF asks HUD to withdraw the interim final rule and reinstate the stronger 2021 version of the interim final AFFH rule. LDF’s comment also draws attention to a number of deficiencies within the new rule and highlights how it will impact Black communities across the country as well as the economy as a whole.
Despite HUD’s changes to the rule, state and local governments should continue to engage their communities in robust efforts to identify and address barriers to housing opportunity. LDF will continue calling on HUD to address the historic and ongoing discrimination in housing that perpetuates segregation throughout America’s neighborhoods and keeps people locked out of opportunity.
To learn more about AFFH and LDF’s comments, read the full letter here.
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Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation’s first civil rights law organization. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Please note that LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to e
