SR76

A Senate Resolution expressing opposition to the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s proposed changes to the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule.

Whereas, In 2015, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”) adopted an Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (“AFFH”) rule that established a new framework for HUD funding recipients to meet their longstanding legal obligation under the federal Fair Housing Act to reduce barriers to fair housing and equal opportunity; and

Whereas, The AFFH rule was promulgated in response to the recommendations of the United States Government Accountability Office and affected stakeholders centered on the need for HUD to bolster its fair housing planning obligations by providing greater clarity and support to HUD funding recipients and facilitating local decision-making on fair housing priorities and goals; and

Whereas, The AFFH rule achieves these ends by providing clearer standards for meeting fair housing obligations, greater transparency, increased access to data concerning fair housing conditions and access to opportunity, and new mapping and customizable assessment tools, as well as by encouraging collaboration between jurisdictions and community input and participation; and

Whereas, The AFFH rule ultimately serves to help HUD funding recipients take meaningful actions to overcome historic patterns of segregation, promote fair housing choice, and foster inclusive communities that are free from discrimination; and

Whereas, On August 9, 2018, HUD issued an advance notice of a proposed rulemaking that would undo much of the AFFH rule for the stated reasons that the rule impeded the development and rehabilitation of affordable housing and provided inadequate autonomy to HUD funding recipients; and

Whereas, The AFFH rule has not been in effect long enough to adequately assess its effect on the development and rehabilitation of affordable housing, the rule does not in fact dictate how communities should meet their fair housing obligations, and the rule has produced concrete improvements in fair housing, such as the commitment of Chester County, Pennsylvania to reduce the number of Section 8 recipients living in high-poverty census tracts by five percentage points; and

Whereas, It is altogether fitting, proper, and in the public interest, for this House to express opposition to HUD’s proposed rulemaking that would upend the AFFH rule and exacerbate housing inequities in both this State and across the United States; now, therefore,

Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of New Jersey:

1. This House expresses its opposition to and disapproval of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s proposed rulemaking revising its Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule adopted in 2015.

2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate to the President and Vice President of the United States, the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and each member of Congress elected from this State.

STATEMENT

This resolution expresses the Senate’s opposition to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (“HUD”) proposed rulemaking that would weaken its 2015 Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (“AFFH”) rule. The AFFH rule established a new framework for communities receiving HUD funding to meet their longstanding legal obligation under the federal Fair Housing Act to reduce barriers to fair housing and equal opportunity. The AFFH rule introduced a number of new measures to make it clearer and easier for these communities to take meaningful actions to overcome historic patterns of segregation, promote fair housing choice, and foster inclusive communities free from discrimination. HUD’s proposal to jettison much of the AFFH rule threatens to jeopardize the real progress to be made toward these essential objectives if the AFFH rule is maintained and implemented.