The University of California, Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation and Abt Global released a jointly authored policy brief addressing California’s recent efforts in regard to “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” (AFFH). The brief is based on a thorough review of California legislation and 17 interviews with employees from fair housing groups and the state government. The brief details five AFFH strategies used by California since 2016, the shortfalls of these strategies, and lessons for other states hoping to learn from California. States are important enforcers of affordable housing laws because they can help municipalities act on these laws amid local opposition, thus making statewide prioritization of AFFH crucial.
Centuries of economic segregation between people of different races in the U.S. have resulted in racial disparities among those seeking access to quality housing and rampant discrimination in the housing market. The aim of affirmatively furthering fair housing was embedded in the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which includes the explicit goal of undoing patterns of housing segregation and creating “truly integrated and balanced living patterns.” The Fair Housing Act specifically mandates that HUD administer its programs in a way that “affirmatively furthers fair housing” while also placing responsibility for achieving this aim on localities that receive HUD funding. Yet while fair housing has advanced in some ways since 1968, the promise to affirmatively further fair housing has in general not been realized. For example, while the Obama administration enacted meaningful policies promoting AFFH, these policies were reversed by the first Trump administration.
Though the federal government’s efforts to affirmatively further fair housing have waned, state and local governments continue to possess the power to shape housing trends in their cities. The five strategies enacted by California include embedding AFFH into state legislation, reviewing and critiquing local and regional plans for fair housing, incentivizing the construction of affordable housing in higher opportunity neighborhoods, creating renter protection laws and tools to fight displacement, and revitalizing neighborhoods in disadvantaged communities. The Terner Center/Abt brief draws attention to specific actions taken by the state to promote fair housing, including the passage of AB 686, which created new requirements for agencies; made available a variety of resources, such as the AFFH Data Viewer, and tailored data packets to inform AFFH objectives; ordered the thorough review of local AFFH plans before they are eligible for California funding; and created Neighborhood Change Maps and Opportunity Maps to identify high access neighborhoods. The brief also discusses the enactment of AB 1482, which fights displacement, and the creation of the Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) program.
The brief is transparent when it comes to the difficulties in achieving these goals. For example, the brief addresses the tension between moving lower-income individuals to wealthier neighborhoods and investing directly in low-income communities. Creating integrated and balanced living patterns would require investment in the communities themselves because even while some residents might move to wealthier areas, many of the residents remaining in lower-income communities would likely continue to struggle finding quality housing amid persistent segregation. In addition, funding constraints pose challenges, as new construction is expensive and often requires large outlays for materials and labor. Like, the brief cites as additional hardships affecting efforts to keep up with AFFH rules heavy resistance from NIMBYs, staff shortages at the local levels, and the need to administer AFFH policies throughout the entire state of California.
The brief concludes by offering five lessons for other states as they adopt AFFH policies: states should (1) use data to push progress, (2) ensure that staff leaders are focused on fair housing, (3) tie local laws to existing state laws, (4) promote accountability mechanisms, (5) tailor AFFH strategies in accordance with neighborhoods’ unique needs.
California faces some of the most significant affordable housing challenges of any state nationwide. According to HUD’s 2024 Point in Time Count, there were 187,084 unsheltered individuals in the state in 2024 – more than any other state, for the third year in a row. NLIHC reported that in 2022, 21%, or 1,282,835, of renters in California had extremely low incomes (ELI), with a disproportionate number of ELI renters being people of color. In addition, there was a shortage of 972,083 rental homes that were affordable and available for ELI renters in California. Such data display the need for increased funding and policies that affirmatively further fair housing in California and indeed throughout the rest of the country.
Make your voice heard and push for the prioritization of affordable housing nationwide by visiting NLIHC’s Take Action page and urging your members of Congress to advance affordable housing solutions.