**Department of Housing and Urban Development**

**Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity**

**FACT SHEET**

**[HUD's Fair Housing and Civil Rights Mission]{.underline}**

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is committed to
enforcing the federal Fair Housing Act and other civil rights laws with
the fundamental goal of making housing opportunities available to all.
Additionally, the Department will use all of its programmatic and
enforcement tools to eliminate racial and ethnic segregation, illegal
physical and other barriers to persons with disabilities, and other
discriminatory practices in housing and housing-related services.

**[Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing]{.underline}**

Section 808(e)(5) of the Fair Housing Act requires the Secretary of HUD
to administer the Department's housing and urban development programs in
a manner to "affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH)." HUD in large
part carries out this obligation by requiring HUD grantees to
affirmatively further fair housing through its Emergency Shelter Grants
(ESG); Community Planning and Development (CPD) Programs: Community
Development Block Grants (CDBG) and Home Investment Partnerships (HOME);
and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA). Through its CPD
programs, HUD's goal is to expand mobility and widen a person's freedom
of choice.

The extent of the AFFH obligation has never been defined statutorily.
However, HUD defines it as requiring a grantee to: (1) Conduct an
analysis to identify impediments to fair housing choice (the AI) within
the jurisdiction; (2) Take appropriate actions to overcome the effects
of any impediments identified through the analysis; and (3) Maintain
records reflecting the analysis and actions taken in this regard.

> **[Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice (AI)]{.underline}**

An AI is a comprehensive review of a state or entitlement jurisdiction's
laws; regulations; and administrative policies, procedures and
practices. The AI involves an assessment of how these laws, regulations,
policies, and procedures affect the location, availability, and
accessibility of housing. It also assesses how conditions, both private
and public, affect fair housing choice.

Once the jurisdiction completes the AI, it must report on its
implementation by summarizing the impediments identified and describing
the actions taken to overcome the effects of the impediments identified
through the Consolidated Annual Performance Evaluation Report. Although
AIs are not submitted to or approved by HUD, each jurisdiction should
maintain its AI and **[update]{.underline}** the AI annually where
necessary.

**[Fair Housing Agencies Eligible for]{.underline}**

**[Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) Funds]{.underline}**

CPD regulations allow the use of CDBG funds to provide fair housing
services as a program administration cost. Eligible fair housing costs
designed to support the AFFH efforts in the jurisdictions include:
making all persons aware of the range of housing options available;
enforcement, education, and outreach; working to avoid undue
concentrations of assisted persons in areas with many low- and
moderate-income persons; and other appropriate activities, including
conducting local paired testing.

**[Accessibility Requirements]{.underline}**

In addition to the Fair Housing Act, HUD has enforcement obligations
under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities
Act (ADA), which provide additional protections to persons with
disabilities.  Together, these federal laws require housing providers,
state and local governments, and all recipients of federal financial
assistance to ensure accessibility for persons with disabilities.
 Public facilities and buildings, as well as all projects receiving
federal financial assistance, must be designed, constructed and altered
to be fully accessible to people with mobility and sensory impairments.
 

The Fair Housing Act applies to both public and private housing.  Under
the Fair Housing Act, new multifamily buildings must be designed and
constructed to have fully accessible common areas. These buildings must
also incorporate basic adaptive features in ground floor and
elevator-accessible dwelling units to allow for use by people with
disabilities. In addition to these requirements, when housing is created
using federal funding, at least 5% of a project's dwellings must be
fully accessible to people with mobility impairments, and an additional
2% must be accessible to people with vision and hearing impairments. 

Recipients of HUD funding include, but are not limited to, public
housing authorities, CDBG entitlement entities, and private
organizations receiving HUD grant monies.  Recipients must ensure full
compliance with these federal laws and must also ensure compliance by
all sub-recipients to whom funds are distributed.  The Uniform Federal
Accessibility Standards, the ADA Accessibility Guidelines, and the Fair
Housing Act Accessibility Guidelines set forth architectural
specifications for features of accessible design, such as ramps,
passable doorways, and Braille signage. 

HUD encourages state and local governments to adopt local building codes
that comply with the accessibility requirements of the Fair Housing
Act.  In this regard, HUD has recognized ten "safe harbor" model
building codes which fully comply with the Fair Housing Act's
accessibility requirements.  HUD provides free training and technical
assistance on the Fair Housing Act's design and construction
requirements through its Fair Housing Accessibility FIRST program.  For
more information, please visit www.[fairhousingfirst.org]{.underline}.