Long awaited proposed HUD rule on “PHA Consortia” is finally out: The new rule would permit multiple public housing agencies (PHAs) to pool their separate Housing Choice Voucher programs into one contract with HUD, with one “jurisdiction” area, one PHA plan, and so on. The goals of the proposed rule are “to increase administrative efficiencies…and to help ensure maximum family choice in locating suitable housing.” The proposed rule would virtually eliminate “portability” barriers to housing mobility in areas where it is adopted. It us unclear how many PHAs will voluntarily enter into these consortia without significant additional incentives – but at least the legal structure will now be in place – another step in a multifaceted Section 8 voucher reform agenda.
CERD Shadow Report: PRRAC and the National Fair Housing Alliance worked together to prepare a “shadow report” on housing discrimination and segregation, on behalf of 28 civil rights organizations and a number of housing and civil rights researchers. The report is being submitted to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination for their upcoming August review of U.S. compliance with the CERD treaty. PRRAC is working with the U.S. Human Rights Network, which is coordinating U.S. “civil society groups” in the upcoming review.
Time for renewed enforcement of Westchester decree: PRRAC joined the Lawyers Committee and NAACP Legal Defense Fund in condemning Westchester County’s lack of progress in implementing the 2009 fair housing settlement order, and pushing back against some of the misleading claims of the county executive and his followers – see the press release here.
Baltimore Housing Mobility Program profiled in “Next City” this week in an article titled “Julian Castro Should Visit Baltimore on the Way to His New HUD Secretary Desk.”
