1. understanding the link
affirmatively forwarding
fair housing (affh) in KANSAs CITY
Sarah Price
Kansas City, MO August 31, 2016

2. overview what is affirmatively forwarding fair housing (affh)
THE FAIR HOUSING ACT
Kansas City and affh

3. what is affirmatively forwarding fair housing (affh)
Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing is a legal requirement for federal grantees to further the purpose of the Fair Housing Act.
Local communities are required to submit an Assessment of Furthering Fair Housing (AFH) to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development by October 2016 as a part of their Community Development Block Grant obligations
AFFH grew out of the Fair Housing Act passed in T
The Fair Housing Act was designed to prohibit discrimination as a result of the recommendations and findings outlined in the Kerner Report
The Goal was to Promote integration, Promote housing choice and increase access to opportunity
The Act passed April 11, 1968 one week after Dr. King’s assassination.
The Act prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings, and in other real estate-related transactions because of the following personal characteristics:
Race; Color; Religion; Sex; Familial status; National origin; or Disability.
The Fair housing Act also requires that HUD administer programs and activities relating to housing and urban development in a manner that affirmatively furthers the policies of the Act. HUD must do more than simply not discriminate itself; the Act reflects the desire to have HUD use its grant programs to assist in ending discrimination and segregation, to the point where the supply of genuinely open housing increases.
Legislation and History Leading up to AFFH
Passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968
The Act was designed to prohibit discrimination as a result of the recommendations and findings outlined in the Kerner Report
Goal was to Promote integration, Promote housing choice and increase access to opportunity
Act passed April 11, 1968 one week after Dr. King’s assassination
Key Supreme Court Cases occurred some of which include: Plessy v Ferguson (1896) – a “Separate but Equal Doctrine”. Overturned by Brown v BOE
Racial Zoning – Residency restricted to zones based on race – Outlawed by Buchanan v Warley (1917)
Racially Restrictive Covenants in deeds – Prohibited the sale or disposition of property based on Race, National Origin, or Sex. Held to be unenforceable in Shelly v Kraemer (1948) which occurred in Kansas City [Confirm]
act sought greater coordination and planning for housing, community development, transportation, education and training, and workforce opportunities.
Specifically it called for all jurisdictions receiving federal housing or community development funds to examine the supply and demand conditions within their markets and to design strategies appropriately.
De Jure Redlining –Residential Security Maps devised by FHA and HOLC. Denied loans and insurance to people of color or in concentrated areas of color
Segregated Public Housing – 1937 Act required Segregated Public Housing Segregation requirements for building suburban housing developments. Blacks denied ability to get government supported housing in suburbs
Given that some markets have shortages of units and some markets have surpluses of units, the strategies should vary accordingly. The CHAS was replaced by the Consolidated Plan in an effort to expand the reach of the CHAS to better incorporate issues of poverty concentration and fair housing. The current Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) initiative is, in part, a manifestation of research indicating the success of these mobility strategies. However, this does not mean that place-based strategies are being rejected. Rather than choose between the two strategies, most policy analysts suggest that entitlement cities should plan and implement programs that affect both strategies. Five communities — the cities of Blue Springs, Independence and Kansas City, Missouri; the city of Leavenworth, Kansas; and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas — contracted with the Mid-America Regional Council to assist with the assessment.

4. THE fair housing ACT
The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings, and in other real estate-related transactions because of the following personal characteristics:
Race;
Color;
Religion;
Sex;
Familial status;
National origin; or
Disability.
The Fair housing Act also requires that HUD administer programs and activities relating to housing and urban development in a manner that affirmatively furthers the policies of the Act.

5. THE PURPOSE OF THE ACT Fair housing planning rule
Clarify existing fair housing obligations
Set locally-determined fair housing priorities and goals
Connect fair housing planning to subsequent community planning and development via the Consolidated Plan, Annual Action Plans, and PHA Plans (as applicable)
Set up a framework for taking meaningful actions to affirmatively further fair housing
Identify applicable program participants

6. AFFH - PROCESS driven
Designed to increase integration and increase access to opportunity, such as high performing schools, transportation, and jobs, health and wellness and services.
Data- and community-driven approach to assessing segregation and expanding opportunity, among other fair housing issues.
The AFH process is designed to aid local leaders and community stakeholders in developing fair housing priorities and goals that will ultimately increase fair housing choice, build opportunity for all residents, and strengthen communities
Strategies to Begin Dialogue
Mobility Based Strategies - People Based Programs
EXAMPLE: Housing Choice Voucher Program
Community Development Strategies – Place Based Programs
EXAMPLE: Community Development Block Grants

7. Access to opportunity
“Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing means taking meaningful actions to address significant disparities in housing needs and access to opportunity, replacing segregated living patterns with truly integrated and balanced living patterns, transforming racially and ethnically concentrated areas of poverty into areas of opportunity, and fostering and maintaining compliance with civil rights and fair housing laws”
MARC, August 2016

8. DATA TOOLS
HUD AFFH Data and Mapping Tool that assist program participants in completing an Assessment of Fair Housing.
HUD provides downloadable tables in Excel format showing demographics of developments and Census tracts in which they are located.
User Guide for the AFFH-T Data and Mapping Tool
Data Documentation data (maps, tables, indices) in the AFFH-T Data and Mapping Tool

9. affirmatively forwarding fair housing (affh) IN the Kansas Region
Five communities — the cities of Blue Springs, Independence and Kansas City, Missouri; the city of Leavenworth, Kansas; and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas — contracted with the Mid-America Regional Council to assist with the assessment.
First to complete an Assessment of Fair Housing
One of a handful to Submit a Regional Assessment
Draft available for public review and comment
through Sept. 22, 2016

10. Kansas city’s Assessment
“The assessment required by HUD suggests that solving the problems of racially segregated poverty and moving disadvantaged residents and families to opportunity is both a mobility and community development challenge.”
MARC – Kansas Regional Assessment of Fair Housing

14. Source: MARC Regional Housing Assessment http://www. marc

15. KANSAS ASSESMENT of FAIR HOUSING
Radially or Ethnically Concentrated Area of Poverty
The e U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) defines a Racially or Ethnically Concentrated Area of Poverty (R/ECAP) as a census tract where: (1) the non-white population comprises 50 percent or more of the total population and (2), the percentage of individuals living in households with incomes below the poverty rate is either (a) 40 percent or above or (b) three times the average poverty rate for the metropolitan area, whichever is lower.

16. Source: MARC Regional Housing Assessment http://www. marc

17. Transportation funding in region
Source: MARC Regional Housing Assessment

18. Source: MARC Regional Housing Assessment http://www. marc