HUD Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Comment Letter

Families USA has submitted a comment letter responding to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule.

The Fair Housing Act, requires HUD and recipients of federal funds from HUD to affirmatively further the policies and purposes of the Fair Housing Act. The AFFH mandate requires HUD and its program participants to take meaningful actions to overcome patterns of segregation and promote fair housing choice.

In our letter, we ask HUD to be more expansive in their fair housing development and enforcement and think about the ways housing impacts other determinants of people’s lives. We ask HUD to:

1. Incorporate area health data analysis into the equity framework;
2. Meaningfully develop housing outside of segregated neighborhoods; and
3. Broaden the scope of community engagement.

We see the potential that meaningful progress in housing development can have in health outcomes and beyond, and hope to see HUD consider these suggestions and bridge the gap between housing and health care.