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HUD Announces New Proposed "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing" Rule, Taking a Major Step Towards Rooting Out Longstanding Inequities in Housing and Fostering Inclusive Communities

Summary

HUD will soon issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register to fulfill the 1968 Fair Housing Act. This proposed rule implements the Fair Housing Act's promotion of fair housing requirement, which requires the government to promote fair housing choice, remove housing inequities, and encourage inclusive communities. This proposed regulation simplifies fair housing assessments for local communities, states, and public housing agencies and requires them to establish aggressive targets to solve fair housing challenges in their areas. Program members would submit Equity Plans to HUD every five years. That plan, which must be produced after strong community involvement, would include their assessments of fair housing concerns facing their communities, objectives, and strategies to address those issues in tangible ways, and a description of community engagement. The proposed regulation would require program participants to integrate objectives and tactics from their approved Equity Plans into future planning documents (e.g., Consolidated Plans, Annual Action Plans, and Public Housing Agency Plans).

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