Department of Housing and Urban Development January 15, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On July 19, 2013, HUD published a proposed rule on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing. The comment period for the proposed rule closed on September 17, 2013. HUD received over 1,000 public comments in response to the proposed rule. While many commenters expressed outright support for HUD's proposal, and other commenters expressed outright opposition, the majority of the commenters provided valuable feedback and suggestions on HUD's proposal. One area of concern expressed by many commenters was the ability of program participants, those that are small or those that receive small grants or allocations of HUD funds, to prepare and submit the Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH) in accordance with the process set out in HUD's proposed rule, and by the proposed submission deadline. Commenters comprised of State jurisdictions or their representatives also expressed concern about the ability to complete an AFH, which they commented did not take into consideration the unique role of States. These commenters stated that HUD's proposed AFH was tailored to entitlement jurisdictions. In response to these comments, HUD is considering providing certain HUD program participantsStates, Insular Areas, qualified PHAs, jurisdictions receiving a small Community Development Block (CDBG) grant (which is based on a percentage of the CDBG formula appropriation, as described in this notice)with the option of submitting their first AFH at a date later than would otherwise be required for program participants that are not States or Insular Areas, not qualified PHAs, and are not grantees receiving a small CDBG grant, as proposed to be defined in this notice. This supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking therefore re-opens the public comment period on the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing proposed rule for an additional 30 days solely to seek comment on these specific issues. HUD is not soliciting comment on any other issues related to HUD's July 19, 2013, proposed rule.