TITLE
Recommendation to approve City’s Assessment of Fair Housing for the period of October 1, 2017 through September 30, 2022 and authorize City Manager, or designee, to take actions to further the goals identified in the Assessment of Fair Housing. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
On July 16, 2015, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published its Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Final Rule, which jurisdictions receiving HUD funds must follow to implement the Fair Housing Act of 1968. The Fair Housing Act not only makes it unlawful for jurisdictions to discriminate, it also requires jurisdictions to take actions to: undo patterns of segregation and other types of housing discrimination; promote fair housing choice; and, foster inclusive communities. The protected classes of the Fair Housing Act include race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, and familial status.
HUD’s Final Rule establishes a process to analyze the local fair housing landscape, and set fair housing priorities and goals for jurisdictions through an Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH) (Exhibit A). The AFH is designed to identify fair housing issues, determine the factors that significantly contribute to identified issues, and set the City’s fair housing goals to overcome them. The fair housing planning process in the AFFH Rule outlines the content HUD funding recipients must include in their AFH. The AFH includes an analysis of the following fair housing issues:
· Integration and segregation patterns and trends based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, and disability;
· Racially or ethnically concentrated areas of poverty (R/ECAPs);
· Significant disparities in access to opportunity for any protected class;
· Disproportionate housing needs for any protected class; and,
· Fair housing issues related to publicly supported housing; disability and access; and, fair housing enforcement, outreach capacity, and resources.
The A...
Click here for full text