# Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing **Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing** (AFFH) is a duty written into the [[Fair Housing Act of 1968]]. Section 808(e)(5) of the Act requires the [[Department of Housing and Urban Development]] to run its programs "in a manner affirmatively to further" fair housing. In plain terms, the government's housing money is supposed to help undo segregation, not just avoid adding to it. Cities, counties, states and public housing agencies that take that money must certify that they are meeting the duty. ## Why it matters Banning discrimination stops a landlord from turning a family away. It does nothing about a region that is already segregated because of decades of redlining (see [[Redlining and Housing Discrimination]]), restrictive covenants, highway routing and exclusionary zoning. AFFH is the part of the law aimed at that inherited map, which makes it the most ambitious part of the Act and the most politically exposed. Opponents describe it as Washington dictating local zoning; supporters say it is the only tool that asks communities receiving federal money to look at who their rules keep out. For most of its history it had almost no enforcement mechanism at all, and every attempt to give it one has been reversed. ## A rule that keeps changing - **1968–2015: a duty without a method.** For decades the duty meant little in practice. Starting in 1974, jurisdictions receiving community development block grants had to certify compliance, which HUD later defined as writing an "Analysis of Impediments" to fair housing and acting on it. Nobody checked those analyses in any systematic way. - **July 16, 2015: the Obama rule.** HUD issued its first full AFFH rule under President [[Barack Obama]]. It replaced the old analysis with a structured **Assessment of Fair Housing**, built on HUD-supplied data on segregation and access to jobs, schools and transit, that HUD would review. About 22 jurisdictions began using it in 2016, with roughly 105 more due in 2017. - **May 23, 2018: suspended.** HUD under [[Ben Carson]] suspended the assessment requirement for all but a handful of jurisdictions. - **August 7, 2020: repealed.** HUD replaced the 2015 rule with "Preserving Community and Neighborhood Choice," issued without the usual public comment. It cut the obligation to a few lines and treated almost any action "rationally related" to fair housing as enough. President [[Donald Trump]] campaigned on the repeal that summer as a defense of the suburbs. - **June 10, 2021: definitions restored.** Under President [[Joe Biden]], HUD's interim rule restored the 2015 definitions and certifications, effective July 31, 2021, without bringing back the full assessment process. - **February 9, 2023: a new proposal.** HUD proposed a fuller rule requiring an "Equity Plan" from each jurisdiction, with public participation and a way for residents to file complaints when a jurisdiction failed to follow through. It was never finalized. - **February 27, 2025: terminated.** HUD Secretary [[Scott Turner]] announced the end of the Biden-era rule, calling it costly red tape on localities. The replacement interim rule, "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Revisions," asks only that a grantee certify it took "any action" during the period "rationally related to promoting fair housing." ## Where it stands The statutory duty is still law, because only Congress can remove it. What no longer exists is any federal process for checking whether communities meet it. Each grantee's own certification is treated as sufficient, and HUD does not review the underlying analysis. Fair housing advocates, including the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the [[National Fair Housing Alliance]], have asked HUD to withdraw the 2025 rule and restore the 2021 version. ## Connections - [[Fair Housing Act of 1968]]: the statute that creates the duty. - [[Disparate Impact]]: the other main tool for reaching segregation that nobody openly intended, also being rolled back. - [[Redlining and Housing Discrimination]] and [[White Flight and Suburbanization]]: the patterns AFFH was meant to address. - [[Department of Housing and Urban Development]]