Washington, DC - The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) commends the National Fair Housing Alliance, the Texas Low Income Housing Information Service, and Texas Appleseed for filing a lawsuit against the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for in effect suspending the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) regulation.
Fifty years ago, Congress passed the Fair Housing Act, a landmark law necessary to end discrimination in housing and eliminate the barriers to opportunity created by segregation. The AFFH regulation—designed with substantial public input— is a critical tool designed to reduce segregation and foster greater housing opportunity.
The AFFH rule gives jurisdictions a roadmap and tools for compliance and includes measures for accountability. HUD abruptly issued a notice in January of this year that in effect suspended key AFFH requirements, leaving local jurisdictions confused, giving residents less voice in important decisions about their communities, and reinstating an approach to fair housing that the Government Accountability Office found to be ineffective and poorly administered.
“The administration’s abrupt decision to in effect suspend this critical regulation without any input from key stakeholders and with only an ineffective and inadequate process in its place is in flagrant disregard of a core part of HUD’s job,” says Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the NLIHC. “This lawsuit is an important step to ensuring the Fair Housing Act’s promise of making every neighborhood a community of opportunity is realized.”
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Established in 1974 by Cushing N. Dolbeare, the National Low Income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that assures people with the lowest incomes in the United States have affordable and decent homes.