On December 31, 2015, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced the approval of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Assessment Tool, as well as the availability of number of documents related to the AFFH final regulation issued in July 2015. The Assessment Tool, which includes instructions and nationally-uniform data provided by HUD, contains a series of questions designed “to help program participants identify, among other things, areas of racially and ethnically concentrated areas of poverty, patterns of integration and segregation, disparities in access to opportunity, and is proportionate housing needs.”
The version of the tool released in December is intended to be used by recipients of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME, Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG), and Housing for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) funds. The tool is also intended for use by certain joint and regional collaborations that include local governments and Public Housing Authorities (PHAs).
Under the AFFH rule, recipients of HUD funding – including both local and state governments and Public Housing Authorities – are required to complete an “Assessment of Fair Housing” (AFH) to analyze their local conditions and develop priorities and goals to address conditions in their community. The AFH replaces the Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice (AI) that recipients had previously been required to undertake.
The newly approved documents released by HUD include:
- an “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule Guidebook,” which replaces the former Fair Housing Planning Guide;
- the “Assessment of Fair Housing Tool,” which outlines the questions that should be addressed in completing an Assessment of Fair Housing; and
- a link to HUD’s AFFH Mapping and Data Tool (AFFH-T), as well as a AFFH-T User Guide and Data Documentation.
HUD has more information on its AFFH page here.
