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HUD Extends Time for Affirmative Housing Program

Rather than just react to fair housing complaints, HUD plans to be more assertive via a program announced in Jan. This week, it extended the comment period to April 24.

WASHINGTON – In January, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposed a new program called “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” that would be preceded by a public comment period finalizing the details.

That comment period was drawing to a close, however, and HUD announced in the Federal Register this week that it would be extended by 14 days to April 24, 2023.

After announcing the new program in January, HUD published its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register on Feb.9. It originally called for a 60-day public comment period. (See original Florida Realtors’ article, HUD Proposes New ‘Affirmative’ Fair-Housing Rule)

“Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” is HUD’s response to a proposal President Joe Biden issued during his first days in office, outlined in Memorandum on Redressing Our Nation’s and the Federal Government’s History of Discriminatory Housing Practices and Policies. It aims to remedy the effects of a long history of discrimination in housing.

HUD says a lot of interested parties requested more time to review the rule and provide comments. In response, HUD decided to extend the public comment period for two weeks. Any person or group that wants to read the original proposal and/or submit their views, comments and recommendations, may still do so.

Comments can be submitted electronically through the U.S. regulations.gov website.

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