NCSHA Urges HUD to Develop, Pilot State Fair Housing Assessment Tool before Requiring States to Submit Fair Housing Assessments

WASHINGTON, D.C. – February 18, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) – This week, NCSHA responded to HUD’s re-opening of the public comment period on the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) proposed rule to garner additional comments on whether HUD should delay the first Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH) submission deadline for states and other targeted entities. In its notice re-opening the AFFH to comments, HUD acknowledged that the AFFH proposed rule is better suited to local jurisdictions than it is to states, and formally announced that it will design a state-specific assessment tool separate from the proposed tool it published last year for local jurisdictions. HUD also stated that it will provide a full notice and comment process for the state-specific assessment tool.

NCSHA applauded HUD for its decision to develop a state-specific assessment tool and encouraged it to de-couple the AFH submission deadline for states from the deadline it sets for local jurisdictions, as local jurisdictions are likely to have access to their own assessment tool well before HUD finalizes the state-specific tool. NCSHA also urged HUD to undertake a limited pilot test of the proposed state tool before rolling it out nationwide.

Please contact NCSHA’s " target="_blank">Jennifer Schwartz with questions.