HUD Creates Tougher Rules to Require Fair Housing

The US Department of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUD) announced on July 8th  that it is establishing tighter reporting regulations which will mandate that local governments  overcome barriers to integrated, diverse  and affordable housing. The new regulations will require more detailed information on how the local government is addressing impediments to fair housing, as well as greater transparency in the public’s ability to access this data and, finally, a greater willingness on the part of HUD to withhold federal funds such as the Community Development Block Grants (CCBG) when local governments fail to meet the new requirements.  Under current HUD regulations, local governments must file a detailed CCBG report every five years to receive funding, with details on what plans are in place to create affordable housing and overcome the impediments to fair housing identified by the local government in its HUD report.  HTHC filed a statement with the Town of Huntington in October 2014, as part of the five-year HUD/CCBG reporting requirement, in which we detailed how the Town of Huntington has fallen far short on its plans for creating affordable housing. You can read our report below on this News and Events page as it was posted on October 23, 2014.  Unfortunately, these five year CCBG reports to HUD have had minimal if any  impact over the years, with little of no substantive follow-through by HUD to insure that local government’s adhere to their own CCBG plans.  Rarely if ever are CCBG funds withheld by HUD. While the new regulations are a sign of hope that Huntington will actually be required to fulfill its fair housing obligations, due to the often ferocious local opposition to compliance as we saw at Ruland Road, HTHC remains watchful on this issue.  You can read Newsday‘s  July 9th coverage of the new regulations.