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Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH)

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AFFH Background

Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) is a legal requirement that federal agencies and federal grantees actively address and work to eliminate housing discrimination and segregation. This obligation to affirmatively further fair housing has been in the Fair Housing Act since 1968, but prior to the 2015 AFFH regulation, there was no effective accountability system for HUD grantees. The 2015 rule remedied this gap by instituting a community-centered process to analyze patterns and causes of segregation as well as neighborhood disparities, and to set actionable goals to promote greater integration and equity. The 2015 AFFH regulation was suspended by the Trump administration in 2017, and the administration issued a problematic new rule in July 2020. The new rule will likely be challenged by civil rights groups (see below for more information on the efforts to challenge these rollbacks). The statutory obligation remains in effect, and a number of communities have already benefited from the Assessment of Fair Housing process.

2020 AFFH Rollback

On July 24, 2020, HUD announced it was revoking the 2015 AFFH Rule and replacing it with the so-called “Preserving Community and Neighborhood Choice” rule. The new rule effectively strikes down the only meaningful guidance since the Fair Housing Act for how states and localities should redress discriminatory housing practices.

How to Conduct an Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH): Resources

Sample AFHs

AFFH Developments, Regulation, Recommendations, Advocacy & Materials

2018 – 2020 Proposed AFFH Rule Revision Process

In 2018, HUD embarked on a public process to withdraw and replace the 2015 rule. On January 14, 2020, HUD published a proposed rule in the federal register that would have dramatically changed the regulatory definition of ‘AFFH’ to one that is untethered from the statute’s focus on residential segregation. Instead, HUD sought to use the rule as a platform for local deregulation: ostensibly doing so to make housing more affordable, but in fact, promoting strategies that will harm economically vulnerable people – such as removing rent regulations and environmental protections.

PRRAC partnered in a campaign to oppose the effort with the Georgetown Law Civil Rights Clinic, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, National Fair Housing Alliance, National Housing Law Project, National Low Income Housing Coalition, Prosperity Now, Shriver Center on Poverty Law, Western Center on Law & Poverty, and the Alliance for Housing Justice.

Post-2016 Proposed AFFH Rule Revision Materials

Pre-2017 AFFH Regulation Recommendations & Advocacy

Cross-Issue Advocacy & Publications

AFFH Report Cards

The obligation to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing applies directly throughout HUD programs, as well as to HUD’s oversight of its grantees via the AFFH Regulation. Assessments of HUD’s performance in affirmatively furthering fair housing in its programs and enforcement efforts:

Select AFFH News, Announcements / Coalition Partner Clips 2015 – 2021