Submit Comments on Draft Fair Housing Assessment Tool

On Sep. 26, HUD published a proposed version of an Assessment Tool designed to assist HUD recipients in their “affirmatively furthering fair housing” (AFFH) obligations by facilitating the analysis of barriers to fair housing choice and setting goals to address them. The new tool would replace the current Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice (AI). The draft tool is open for its first round of public comment through Nov. 25, 2014.

The tool is designed to help local governments administering HOME, CDBG, and various other HUD programs and housing authorities working in partnership with local governments to identify barriers to fair housing, set fair housing goals, and assure compliance with HUD’s soon-to-be finalized Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regulations.

The Assessment Tool provides certain nationally uniform data. Program participants would engage in local data and local knowledge collection, through public hearings and local research. The Assessment Tool would ask questions so participants can perform a meaningful assessment of key fair housing issues and help clearly convey the resulting analysis and provide an Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH) acceptable to HUD. The AFH would be required from program participants under the July 10, 2013, proposed rule to affirmatively further fair housing.