HUD restores AFFH definitions and certifications

Agency Rule-Making & Guidance HUD Fair Housing Act Fair Housing Fair Lending

On June 10, HUD published an interim final rule (IFR) to restore certain definitions and certifications to its regulations implementing the Fair Housing Act’s requirement to affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH). The IFR also reinstates a process where HUD will provide technical assistance and other support to funding recipients engaged in fair housing planning. The IFR essentially repeals HUD’s 2020 final rule (covered by a Buckley Special Alert), which was intended to align its disparate impact regulation, adopted in 2013, with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. As previously covered by InfoBytes, earlier in January, President Biden directed HUD to examine the effects of the final rule while emphasizing that HUD has a “statutory duty to ensure compliance with the Fair Housing Act,” and on April 12, the Office of Management and Budget posted notices (covered by InfoBytes here) announcing a pending proposed rule to reinstate HUD’s Discriminatory Effects Standard related to the 2020 final rule.

Among other things, the IFR “restores the understanding of the AFFH obligation for certain [funding recipients] to the previously established understanding by reinstating legally supportable definitions that are consistent with a meaningful AFFH requirement and certifications that incorporate these definitions.” The IFR also notes that HUD will provide technical assistance and support prior to the IFR’s July 31 effective date, due to a requirement that HUD funding recipients certify compliance with their AFFH duties on an annual basis, as well as HUD’s statutory obligation to ensure that it follows the Fair Housing Act’s AFFH requirements. HUD further recognizes that the 2020 final rule “did not interpret the AFFH mandate in a manner consistent with statutory requirements, HUD’s prior interpretations, or judicial precedent,” adding that the agency also failed to “provide sufficient justification for this substantial departure.”

HUD also announced that it will separately restore guidance and resources for funding recipients to use when conducting fair housing planning until the agency finalizes a new regulation to implement the statutory mandate to AFFH. Comments on the IFR are due July 12.