Full report is HERE. The AI Section begins on PDF page 30:
....HUD has drafted a proposed rule. It is currently under review by OMB, and is
expected to
be published for comment later this spring.
While
the proposed rule has yet to be released, HUD has given indications about how
it will be structured.
Among other changes, HUD plans to eliminate the current requirement for
jurisdictions to
prepare periodic Analyses of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice (AIs), and
replace this with a new
form of analysis known as the Assessment of Fair Housing, or AFH. According to
HUD, there are strong similarities between the Fair Housing Equity Assessment
required for grantees of HUD’s Sustainable
Communities Initiative and the new AFH. The AFH will consist of at least five components:
an analysis of the housing needs of protected classes; an assessment of
patterns of integration
or segregation in the community; identification of racially or ethnically
concentrated areas
of poverty; an analysis of disparities in access to opportunity for members of
protected classes; and
an examination of the local fair housing infrastructure, both public and
private. The goal is to direct
jurisdictions to spend their funds in ways that expand access to opportunity
for all local residents.
To
reduce the burden on jurisdictions, HUD is building a new data analysis and
mapping system that will
make it easier for grantees to do the necessary background work for the AFHs.
The system, which
will be available to the public as well as to grantees, will provide access to
data about local demographics,
housing, education, transportation, jobs and other factors affecting access to opportunity.
Grantees
will be required to submit to HUD an AFH in advance of, but on the same cycle
as, the submission
of their Consolidated Plans (Con Plans). Failure to submit an acceptable AFH
will delay the
jurisdiction’s receipt of HUD funding. HUD intends to review each AFH
submitted, and unless it takes
action within 45 days to deem the AFH inadequate or incomplete, the AFH will be
considered approved.
According to HUD, jurisdictions’ Con Plans and Public Housing Authority Plans
will have to
be consistent with their AFHs, indicating how they are addressing the goals and
priorities described
in the AFH. Annual action plans will have to describe any significant changes
in local conditions
and update the goals and priorities accordingly.
Based
on what we know so far, there are several aspects of this new approach to
affirmatively furthering
fair housing that are of particular concern. One is whether HUD has the
capacity to review
all of the AFHs it will receive, both in terms of the level of staffing
available for those reviews and
the training the staff have received. This is critical since AFHs will be
deemed approved in the absence
of action to the contrary by HUD. HUD could potentially phase in the new AFH requirement
to alleviate some of the capacity concern.
A
second red flag for fair housing is the lack of an appeals process. While HUD
says that the public will
have ample opportunity to provide input and comment on their jurisdiction’s
AFH, the specifics of
the public participation provisions are not yet clear. Nor is it clear how
jurisdictions will respond to
concerns raised by members of the community. If inadequate AFHs are approved,
there will be no mechanism
for the public to appeal HUD’s decision and force a jurisdiction to make
necessary revisions,
short of filing a fair housing complaint.
Finally,
it remains to be seen how effective the enforcement mechanism will be. The
ultimate tool that
HUD has to ensure that jurisdictions address their obligations to affirmatively
further fair housing
is to delay or deny their funding. HUD has this authority currently, but has
exercised it only on rare
occasions. When
the rule is published, it will be important for fair housing advocates to
review it carefully and submit
comments about any flaws or weaknesses and ways the final rule can be
strengthened. HUD’s goal is to
have a final rule in place before the end of 2012.
