§ 891.125 Site and neighborhood standards. All sites must meet the following site and neighborhood requirements: ( a ) The site must be adequate in size, exposure, and contour to accommodate the number and type of units proposed, and adequate utilities (water, sewer, gas, and electricity) and streets must be available to service the site.
( b ) The site and neighborhood must be suitable from the standpoint of facilitating and furthering full compliance with the applicable provisions of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Fair Housing Act, Executive Order 11063 (27 FR 11527, 3 CFR, 1958-1963 Comp., p. 652); as amended by Executive Order 12259, (46 FR 1253, 3 CFR, 1980 Comp., p. 307)); section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and implementing HUD regulations.
( c ) New construction sites must meet the following site and neighborhood requirements: ( 1 ) The site must not be located in an area of minority concentration (or minority elderly concentration under the Section 202 Program) except as permitted under paragraph (c)(2) of this section, and must not be located in a racially mixed area if the project will cause a significant increase in the proportion of minority to nonminority residents (or minority elderly to nonminority elderly residents, under the Section 202 Program) in the area.
( 2 ) A project may be located in an area of minority concentration (or minority elderly concentration, under the Section 202 Program) only if: ( i ) Sufficient, comparable opportunities exist for housing for minority elderly households or minority disabled households, as applicable (or minority families, for projects funded under §§ 891.655 through 891.790), in the income range to be served by the proposed project, outside areas of minority concentration (see paragraph (c)(3) of this section for further guidance on this criterion); or
( ii ) The project is necessary to meet overriding housing needs that cannot be met in that housing market area (see paragraph (c)(4) of this section for further guidance on this criterion).
( 3 ) ( i ) *Sufficient* does not require that in every locality there be an equal number of assisted units within and outside of areas of minority concentration. Rather, application of this standard should produce a reasonable distribution of assisted units each year which over a period of several years will approach an appropriate balance of housing opportunities within and outside areas of minority concentration. An appropriate balance in any jurisdiction must be determined in light of local conditions affecting the range of housing choices available for very low-income minority elderly or disabled households, as applicable (or low-income minority families, for projects funded under §§ 891.655 through 891.790), and in relation to the racial mix of the locality's population.
( ii ) Units may be considered to be *comparable opportunities* if they have the same household type (elderly or disabled, as applicable) and tenure type (owner/renter); require approximately the same total tenant payment; serve the same income group; are located in the same housing market; and are in standard condition.
( iii ) Application of this sufficient, comparable opportunities standard involves assessing the overall impact of HUD-assisted housing on the availability of housing choices for very low-income minority elderly or disabled households, as applicable (or low-income minority families, for projects funded under §§ 891.655 through 891.790), in and outside areas of minority concentration, and must take into account the extent to which the following factors are present, along with any other factor relevant to housing choice: ( A ) A significant number of assisted housing units are available outside areas of minority concentration.
( B ) There is significant integration of assisted housing projects constructed or rehabilitated in the past ten years, relative to the racial mix of the eligible population.
( C ) There are racially integrated neighborhoods in the locality.
( D ) Programs are operated by the locality to assist minority elderly or disabled households, as applicable (or minority families, for projects funded under §§ 891.655 through 891.790), that wish to find housing outside areas of minority concentration.
( E ) Minority elderly or disabled households, as applicable (or minority families, for projects funded under §§ 891.655 through 891.790), have benefitted from local activities (e.g., acquisition and write-down of sites, tax relief programs for homeowners, acquisitions of units for use as assisted housing units) undertaken to expand choice for minority households (or families) outside of areas of minority concentration.
( F ) A significant proportion of minority elderly or disabled households, as applicable (or minority households, for projects funded under §§ 891.655 through 891.790), have been successful in finding units in nonminority areas under the Section 8 Housing Voucher programs.
( G ) Comparable housing opportunities have been made available outside areas of minority concentration through other programs.
( 4 ) Application of the *overriding housing needs* criterion, for example, permits approval of sites that are an integral part of an overall local strategy for the preservation or restoration of the immediate neighborhood and of sites in a neighborhood experiencing significant private investment that is demonstrably changing the economic character of the area (a “revitalizing area”). An *overriding housing need,* however, may not serve as the basis for determining that a site is acceptable if the only reason the need cannot otherwise be feasibly met is that discrimination on the basis of race, color, creed, sex, or national origin renders sites outside areas of minority concentration unavailable, or if the use of this standard in recent years has had the effect of circumventing the obligation to provide housing choice.
( d ) The neighborhood must not be one that is seriously detrimental to family life or in which substandard dwellings or other undesirable conditions predominate, unless there is actively in progress a concerted program to remedy the undesirable conditions.
( e ) The housing must be accessible to social, recreational, educational, commercial, and health facilities and services, and other municipal facilities and services that are at least equivalent to those typically found in neighborhoods consisting largely of unassisted, standard housing of similar market rents.
( f ) For the Section 811 Program of Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities, the additional site and neighborhood requirements in § 891.320 apply.
[61 FR 11956, Mar. 22, 1996, as amended at 89 FR 38292, May 7, 2024]