Department of Housing and Urban Development January 14, 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Through today's notice, HUD announces that it is extending the public comment period on its ``White House Council on Eliminating Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing; Request for Information,'' published in the Federal Register on November 22, 2019.

HUD recognizes that its program participants have a duty to affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH), which HUD finds essential to the appropriate administration of its grant programs. Program participants must certify that they AFFH and maintain documentation to support that certification. This rule proposes changes to HUD's regulations regarding the reporting on program participants' actions to AFFH so that HUD can effectively evaluate participants' compliance with their AFFH obligations. This proposed rule would establish a uniform reporting process that respects the unique needs and difficulties faced by individual jurisdictions by assessing program participants on the concrete actions they take to AFFH and by leveraging objective metrics for fair housing choice to assist HUD's evaluation of such actions. The proposed regulation would revise the definition of AFFH, develop metrics to allow comparison of jurisdictions, and require jurisdictions to certify that they will AFFH by identifying concrete steps the jurisdiction will take over the next 5 years. Jurisdictions would need to report on their progress toward the commitments in their AFFH certification through the regular consolidated plan reporting and review processes. Public housing agencies would demonstrate their efforts to AFFH through their participation in the consolidated plan process.