*this post was co-authored by Rob Breymaier

Today, it is likely that most if not all of the 1,200+ states, counties, and municipalities across the country that receive CDBG funds are revisiting their plans and procedures. The Anti-Discrimination Center of Metro New York v. Westchester County settlement, announced last week, requires Westchester to make up for years of neglect regarding the affirmative furthering of fair housing – namely, addressing the impediments to fair housing choice that perpetuate segregation. As HUD’s Deputy Secretary Ron Sims noted during the press conference announcing the settlement, after nearly a decade of lax federal oversight communities around the nation are now “on notice”.

The case makes clear that recipients of federal housing and community development funds “must comply with, inter alia, the provisions of the Housing and Community Development Act, including the requirement that it affirmatively further fair housing”, which it goes on to define as pro-integrative housing policies. Long ignored and often misunderstood, affirmative furthering of fair housing has always been about promoting, fostering, and sustaining integration in the housing market.

The case could not be more timely. While a significant victory for fair housing and integration advocates, the Westchester settlement is small in comparison to the benefit that proper regulations from HUD on the duty to affirmatively further fair housing may provide. Regulations that are currently being drafted by HUD staff and are slated to be published for public comment within the next few months.

To understand the potential implications of the settlement and new regulations, take a look at the numbers. Under the settlement, Westchester County will spend roughly $50 million on affirmatively located affordable housing developments over the next 5 years. Annually, HUD allocates over $20 billion to affordable housing through CDBG, HOME, Section 8, voucher, and public housing funds. Billions more dollars in Low-Income Housing Tax Credits are used annually to finance affordable housing programs.

Currently, regulations regarding the affirmative furthering of fair housing are vague, process-oriented, unaccountable, and largely ineffective. Updating them to require measurable actions with targeted outcomes, subject to oversight and review, would result in powerful positive impacts. We believe these regulations should:

1. Provide a strong definition of affirmative furthering of fair housing as housing policies that promote integration of those protected by the Fair Housing Act. Recipients must show that they will develop new affordable housing in a manner that expands housing options for protected persons, particularly geographic expansion to high-opportunity communities with plentiful jobs, good schools, and quality services.

2. Require that Analyses of Impediments and Fair Housing Action Plans address systemic and structural barriers to fair housing choice. In analyses of impediments, recipients should be required to address how current patterns of segregation and points of resistance to diversity and integration (such as municipal zoning, industry practices, and popular (mis)perceptions) limit housing choices and integration. Recipients’ fair housing action plans must address measurable actions with specified goals to overcome these impediments.

3. Afford MPOs (Metropolitan Planning Organizations) with the resources and authority to determine regional priorities and disparities regarding affirmative furthering of fair housing. Overlapping local and state recipients should be required to cite these regional issues in their analyses and plans.

4. Clearly state that all federal community development funds should promote regional equity and greater opportunity in disinvested areas. Strategically spending economic, education, and infrastructure dollars to increase opportunity in disinvested areas will balance regional development and enhance the quality of life for everyone.

5. Improve transparency and accountability by compelling recipients to post their plans online, hold them open for public comment, and engage the community in the planning process. These are key components of the Obama administration’s commitment to good government and will reduce the oversight burdens on HUD by empowering local fair housing advocates with critical information.
   

Forty-one years later after its passage, we now have a chance to realize the full promise of the Fair Housing Act. HUD’s forthcoming affirmative furthering regulations will determine the future of our metropolitan regions, and we hope that the drafters within HUD are taking the time and care to get them right. While many in the fair housing community are anxious to see progress, the implications of these new rules are simply too large to rush them. With more than $20 billion annually at stake, these new regulations will determine if we will begin to actively promote fairness and regional equity or continue to segregate opportunity along racial and economic lines.

Individual behavior plays a significant role in perpetuating residential racial and ethnic segregation. Illegal discrimination, including racial steering, and housing affordability both play a role, but neither can fully explain the severe segregation that plagues so many of America’s metropolitan regions. With a large majority of housing seekers now beginning their search online, how Web sites organize and display listings and data is becoming increasingly important.

In the bluntly-titled and disturbing Web Tools Whites Can Use To Avoid Accidentally Moving Into A Black Majority Or Latino Majority Neighborhood In The United States, a white supremacist blogger details precisely how a number of popular Web sites can be used to identify segregated neighborhoods and school districts. As he notes in the post, “You’re the head of a White family. You’re moving to a new city, and you’ve just found a home you think you can afford. What’s the next question you want to ask the estate agent? Yeah, you know what question I’m talking about. The question, “How many of THEM live in this neighborhood.”

Read the full post at Rooflines.org.

Under President Obama, data transparency, private-sector innovation, and a renewed commitment to expanding opportunity could revolutionize housing and urban planning. But just as proponents of equity, open government data, and social entrepreneurship are being appointed to key positions, and while the administration is still young, the new HUD/DOT sustainable communities initiative illustrates why the devil is in the details.

Click here to read the full article.

At a US House of Representatives hearing last week on “Livable Communities, Transit Oriented Development, and Incorporating Green Building Practices into Federal Housing and Transportation,” HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan and Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced an new partnership. A joint task force, the “Sustainable Communities Initiative,” will address the intersection of transportation and housing affordability.

While any genuine effort to address housing affordability is welcome, this new HUD/DOT task force is particularly exciting because it reflects a new understanding of the complex issues that confront metropolitan regions and the sometimes surprising ways they intersect. Encouraging smarter planning, expanding the definition of affordability, and researching the livability of communities work in tandem to increase the use of public transportation, decrease our carbon footprint, reduce urban sprawl, enable the smarter use of regional resources, and improve affordable housing options for families. In short, this is one of those rare initiatives that seem to naturally align a multitude of interests.

Read the full post…