CARH’S BROADCAST E-MAIL – Regulatory Alert
January 16, 2025
In today’s Federal Register, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) published two notices (Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing, Withdrawal (FR-6250-N-03) and Reducing Barriers to HUD-Assisted Housing, Withdrawal (FR-6362-N-02)) announcing the withdrawal of the following proposed rules:
- Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing
Published in the Federal Register on February 9, 2023, this proposed rule would have implemented the Fair Housing Act’s affirmatively furthering fair housing mandate, which directs the government to promote fair housing choice and foster inclusive communities. Under this proposed rule, owners would have been required every five years to submit an Equity Plan to HUD for review and acceptance. That plan would have required owners to engage in robust community engagement, encompassing fair housing issues confronting communities and outlining strategies to remedy those issues. The proposed rule would then require program participants to incorporate goals and strategies from their HUD approved Equity Plans into subsequent planning documents (e.g., Consolidated Plans, Annual Action Plans, and Public Housing Agency Plans). In addition, program participants would have been required to conduct and submit to HUD annual progress evaluations that describe progress toward and/or any needed modifications of each goal in the Equity Plan. The proposed rule would have permitted members of the public to file complaints with HUD if program participants are not living up to their commitments and would have authorized HUD to ensure that program participants are held accountable for complying with this rule.
- Reducing Barriers to HUD-Assisted Housing
Published in the Federal Register on April 10, 2024, and further detailed in an article in the March/April edition of the CARH News, this proposed rule would have changed the requirements for public housing agencies (PHAs) and owners of HUD-assisted housing when screening applicants based on prior criminal records. The rule would have required housing providers to conduct an individualized assessment of applicants whose suitability is under question-based on criminal history. The proposed rule would have established a “lookback period” creating a presumption of unreasonableness for the denial of admission for criminal activity from more than three years prior to application, meaning owners would have been required to limit the use of criminal activity when making admission and termination decisions to activity that occurred in the past three years. The proposed rule would have required PHAs and owners to provide applicants with any criminal record information obtained during the screening process and residents would have been given fifteen (15) days to challenge the accuracy and relevance of information used to deny admission. The proposed rule would have also limited the ability of an owner to deny admission or terminate tenancy based on arrest records only.
Accordingly, HUD will proceed to formally withdraw each of these proposed rules from its Spring 2025 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions and, therefore, the requirements outlined in these proposed rules will not take effect.
Please contact the CARH national office at carh@carh.org or 703-837-9001 should you have questions or concerns. For other news and information affecting the affordable rural housing industry, please visit the Newsroom on CARH’s website, www.carh.org.