The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is soliciting comments on the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Assessment Tool for States and Insular Areas. After consideration of the public comments submitted in response to 60-day this notice, HUD will solicit a second round of public comments for a period of 30 days.

HUD committed to issue three assessment tools for its program participants covered by the AFFH final rule, which must be used by program participants to evaluate fair housing choice and access to opportunity in their jurisdictions, to identify barriers to fair housing choice and opportunity at the local and regional levels, and to set fair housing goals to overcome such barriers and advance fair housing choice.

  1. One assessment tool is for use by local governments (Local Government Assessment Tool) that receive assistance under certain grant programs administered by HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD), as well as by joint and regional collaborations between: (i) Local governments; (ii) one or more local governments and one or more public housing agency (PHA) partners; and (iii) other collaborations in which such a local government is designated as the lead for the collaboration.
  2. The second tool (the subject of this Notice) is to be used by States and Insular Areas (State and Insular Area Assessment Tool), including joint or regional collaborations (with local governments and/or PHAs) where the State is designated as the lead entity.
  3. The third assessment tool is for PHAs (including for joint collaborations among multiple PHAs) (PHA Assessment Tool).

To further facilitate public input on the State and Insular Areas Assessment Tool, HUD will post sample maps and tables that are intended to provide options for presenting relevant data. Sample data will be posted on https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/affh/ and https://www.huduser.gov/portal/affht_pt.html no later than March 18, 2016.

Interested persons are invited to submit comments regarding this notice to the Regulations Division, Office of General Counsel, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW., Room 10276, Washington, DC 20410-0500. Communications must refer to the docket number (2016-05521) and title (Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Assessment Tool for States and Insular Areas: Solicitation of Comment-60-Day Notice Under Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995). There are two methods for submitting public comments. All submissions must refer to the docket number and title.

  1. Submission of Comments by Mail. Comments may be submitted by mail to the Regulations Division, Office of General Counsel, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street SW., Room 10276, Washington, DC 20410-0500.
  2. Electronic Submission of Comments. Interested persons may submit comments electronically through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at www.regulations.gov. HUD strongly encourages commenters to submit comments electronically. Electronic submission of comments allows the commenter maximum time to prepare and submit a comment, ensures timely receipt by HUD, and enables HUD to make public comments immediately available to the public. Comments submitted electronically through the www.regulations.gov Web site can be viewed by other commenters and interested members of the public. Commenters should follow the instructions provided on that site to submit comments electronically.