in effect
This is an interim final rule from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) — a regulation that takes effect without going through the usual “propose first, then finalize after comments” process, though HUD is still accepting public comments. It changes how HUD enforces the Fair Housing Act’s requirement that recipients of HUD funding “affirmatively further fair housing” (AFFH). It directs that a funding recipient satisfies this duty by taking any action reasonably connected to promoting fair housing.
Under the new standard, a grantee’s promise to “affirmatively further fair housing” counts as sufficient as long as it took any action during the relevant period rationally related to promoting fair housing, such as helping eliminate housing discrimination. The rule repeals the 2021 interim rule and the older 1994 “Analysis of Impediments” requirement, and it does not require any specific fair housing planning study or document. It also removes two provisions (24 CFR 91.205(b)(2) and 91.305(b)(2)) that had required state and local governments to compare whether one racial or ethnic group’s housing needs were disproportionately greater than others’. The rule took effect April 2, 2025, with public comments due May 2, 2025 (a 60-day window). Recipients must still follow the Fair Housing Act and other civil rights laws to the extent those laws require.
The rule applies to HUD “program participants” — state and local governments, public housing agencies, consortia, and other recipients of HUD funding, including under the HOME, Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA), and Emergency Solutions Grants programs. For these recipients, the certification and record-keeping steps tied to fair housing are simplified, and the earlier requirements to produce impediment analyses or make certain demographic-needs comparisons are removed. According to HUD, this reduces the reporting burden these jurisdictions face when documenting their fair housing efforts.