The Fair Housing Act: HUD Oversight, Programs, and Activities

Summary

The federal Fair Housing Act, enacted in 1968 as Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act (P.L. 90-284), prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, or financing of housing based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, familial status, and handicap. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), through its Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity (FHEO), receives and investigates complaints under the Fair Housing Act and determines if there is reasonable cause to believe that discrimination has occurred or is about to occur.

State and local fair housing agencies and private fair housing organizations also investigate complaints based on federal, state, and local fair housing laws. In fact, if alleged discrimination takes place in a state or locality with its own similar fair housing enforcement agency, HUD must refer the complaint to that agency. Two programs administered by FHEO provide federal funding to assist state, local, and private fair housing organizations:

The Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) funds state and local agencies that HUD certifies as having their own laws, procedures, and remedies that are substantially equivalent to the federal Fair Housing Act. Funding is used for such activities as capacity building, processing complaints, administrative costs, and training. In FY2016, Congress appropriated $24.3 million for FHAP.

The Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) funds eligible entities, most of which are private nonprofit organizations. Funds are used for investigating complaints, including testing (comparing outcomes when members of a protected class attempt to obtain housing with outcomes for those not in a protected class), education, outreach, and capacity building. In FY2016, Congress appropriated $39.2 million for FHIP.

Another provision of the Fair Housing Act requires that HUD affirmatively further fair housing (AFFH). As part of this requirement, recipients of certain HUD funding—jurisdictions that receive Community Planning and Development grants and Public Housing Authorities—go through a process to certify that they are affirmatively furthering fair housing. In July 2015, HUD issued a new rule governing the process, called the Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH). Under the AFH, funding recipients will assess their jurisdictions and regions for fair housing issues (including areas of segregation, racially and ethnically concentrated areas of poverty, disparities in access to opportunity, and disproportionate housing needs), identify factors that contribute to these fair housing issues, and set priorities and goals for overcoming them. HUD will provide data for program participants to use in preparing their AFHs, and will include a tool that helps program participants through the AFH process.

Among other activities undertaken by HUD’s FHEO are efforts to prevent discrimination not explicitly directed against protected classes under the Fair Housing Act. This includes a regulation to prohibit discrimination in HUD programs based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and guidance about the use of criminal background checks in screening applicants for housing.

FHEO also oversees efforts to ensure that clients with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) have access to HUD programs. Guidance from FHEO helps housing providers determine how best to provide translation services, and HUD also receives a small appropriation through the Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity account for the agency to translate documents and provide translation on the phone or at events. Another requirement overseen by FHEO is Section 3, which provides employment and training opportunities for low- and very low-income persons. Section 3 requirements apply to hiring associated with certain housing projects funded by HUD.