Sign Letter Telling Congress to Protect Fair Housing

NLIHC encourages organizations to sign onto a letter urging the House of Representatives to oppose any amendments to the Fiscal Year 2017 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) appropriations bill that would repeal the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule. A vote on the FY 2017 THUD appropriations may be brought up in the House as soon as this week. The deadline to sign the letter is Tuesday, February 28.

The sign-on letter prepared by NLIHC, the National Fair Housing Alliance, PolicyLink, and the American Civil Liberties Union is a response to concerns that Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ) will file an amendment that adopts some or all of the language in H.R. 482, the “Local Zoning Decisions Protection Act of 2017” (see Memo, 1/17). In addition to nullifying the AFFH rule issued in July 2015 (see Memo, 7/13/15), H.R. 482 would prohibit HUD from adopting another AFFH rule and prohibit use of federal funds to build, utilize, or provide public access to a federal database of geospatial information regarding community racial disparities and disparities in access to affordable housing. NLIHC strongly opposes the legislation and any attempts to attach similar provision to other bills.

The AFFH regulation implements a provision of the Fair Housing Act adopted nearly 50 years ago. Until the AFFH rule was adopted, cities, counties, and states that receive federal funds for housing and community development had little guidance about how to fulfill their obligations to affirmatively further fair housing. Before developing the AFFH rule, HUD undertook an extensive, years-long consultation process. Public officials in cities, counties, states, and public housing agencies across the country were asked for their input, and a prototype of the AFFH rule was piloted in 74 regions of various sizes and geographies. The rule and its accompanying tools also went through a public comment process.

Read and sign onto the letter at: http://bit.ly/2mhwnKN

Advocates are urged to share this letter with their networks.

Contact your representative directly at: http://cqrcengage.com/nlihc/lookup

NLIHC’s statement opposing H.R. 482 is at: http://bit.ly/2jk8gKu 

The Congress.gov link to H.R. 482 is at: http://bit.ly/2jFz0Ee

Basic information about AFFH is on page 7-4 of NLIHC’s 2016 Advocates’ Guide at: http://bit.ly/1WiozGd