The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on Wednesday announced it has allocated $30.1 million in noncompetitive funding for HUD’s state and local fair housing enforcement agencies across the country under its Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP).
The FHAP is an intergovernmental partnership between the federal government and state and local agencies to provide protection to the public against discrimination in housing. The funding to state and local enforcement agencies supports fair housing complaint investigations and education and outreach activities to inform the public, housing providers, and local governments about their rights and responsibilities under both the Fair Housing Act and state and local fair housing laws.
This funding supports the efforts of 77 state, county, and city agencies in administering fair housing laws that provide rights, remedies, and procedures that are substantially equivalent to those provided by the federal Fair Housing Act. All of HUD’s FHAP partners can be found here.
“Our state and local Fair Housing Assistance Program partners play a critical role,” said Demetria McCain, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. “Housing discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), disability, and familial status has no place in our society, and these agencies are critical to helping us fight against it.”
Through this funding cycle, HUD is providing an approximate 6.5% increase in both Case Processing Fund reimbursement rates and Administrative Cost Funds, which are the two main sources of FHAP funding provided annually to the Department’s agency partners.
In addition, HUD is making a total of $2 million in Partnership funds available to support eligible FHAP agencies in partnering with community organizations on targeted testing, and education and outreach activities. HUD has also expanded the scope and use of Special Enforcement Effort funds to make $1.1 million available to support the effort of agencies to create effective hybrid work environments to conduct fair housing enforcement work, a necessity during the coronavirus pandemic.
To read the full release, click here.