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 NFHA Urges New York City Council to Oppose Coop Secrecy Bill
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| NFHA Submits Comments on QRM and QM to Federal Regulators
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NFHA has submitted comments on the Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) and the Qualified Mortgage (QM) to federal agencies for proposed credit risk retention requirements. To understand our position feel free to review the comments below.
Click here for QRM Comments
Clink here for QM Comments
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| NFHA SUBMITS COMMENTS TO HUD ON TWO KEY FAIR HOUSING ISSUES
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National Fair Housing Alliance applauds Department of Housing and Urban Development for proposed protections for members of the LGBT community, suggests improvements to proposed rule
Earlier this spring, the Department of Housing and Urban Development released a proposed rule which would protect members of the LGBT community from housing discrimination by providing them with equal access to HUD’s housing programs. This proposed rule is not a rule under the Fair Housing Act, but is instead amends existing rules implementing HUD’s programs.
On March 25, 2011, the National Fair Housing Alliance submitted a comment letter that applauded HUD for issuing a proposed rule which would increase protections offered to people in the LGBT community. Rich anecdotal, survey, and testing evidence demonstrates that members of the LGBT community face substantial discriminatory barriers to the housing market, and this rule makes efforts to alleviate this discrimination in the absence of legislation that would amend the Fair Housing Act and add sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes. Yet, the proposed rule was also imperfect, in that it, among other things, lacked key enforcement provisions, lacked information about how HUD and HUD-funded housing providers would inform people of their rights and provide an avenue to complain, lacked important data collection provisions, and could have offered some strengthened protections.
NFHA provides commentary on proposed FHIP Grant Testing Training
to assist HUD in creating an approporiate framework for enforcement-based testing programs.
In January, the Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a notice of submission of proposed information collection to OMB. In it, HUD indicated its intention to collect data so that it could “provide consistency in testing and testing methodologies,” and create “a course to train coordinators at fair housing organizations nationwide on “consistent methodologies” for paired testing.
On March 28, 2011, the National Fair Housing Alliance submitted a comment letter expressing concern over HUD’s use of the term “consistent methodologies.” In NFHA’s comment letter, it explains the multiple uses for testing evidence and explains the key differences between enforcement testing and research testing. Although research testing, which is employed by social scientists to demonstrate statistically significant disparities in treatment, must follow consistent research standards, enforcement testing is used to develop fact evidence in a courtroom and must be nimble enough to identify discrimination in an ever-changing and complicated housing market. Therefore, the NFHA comment letter argues that HUD shift its focus to developing a national training program on how to conduct testing programs that produce probative evidence of housing discrimination.
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| Housing Discrimination Rampant on Internet - NFHA Report Urges Congress to Amend the Communications Decency Act
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On August 11, 2009 NFHA released a report documenting how thousands of illegal housing advertisements appear with impunity on the Internet every day. “FOR RENT: NO KIDS! How Internet Advertisements Perpetuate Discrimination” calls upon Congress to stop the flood of discriminatory housing advertisements on the Internet by amending the Communications Decency Act of 1996.
Click here to read the press release.
Download the report below.
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| FOR RENT: NO KIDS!!
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The Public Policy arm of the National Fair Housing Alliance works to increase the awareness of policy-makers and regulators about the issues associated with fair housing and fair lending. The public policy team works with members of both the House and the Senate to introduce new civil rights legislation, often in partnership with other civil rights agencies. The team also works with NFHA members, assisting them in raising awareness of fair housing issues with their local and federal representatives.
Questions? Contact Deidre Swesnik at dswesnik@nationalfairhousing.org or call 202-898-1661.
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| 2011 Fair Housing Trends Report
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APRIL 29, 2011 – Today, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) reported that private non-profit fair housing organizations are making significant inroads to eliminating discrimination around the country. “The Big Picture: How Fair Housing Organizations Challenge Systemic and Institutionalized Discrimination," NFHA’s 2011 Fair Housing Trends Report, highlights the work that private groups do to promote diverse, inclusive communities. Annual data on fair housing complaints show that 85 private non-profit fair housing organizations, operating on shoestring budgets, investigated almost twice as many complaints as all government agencies combined tasked with enforcing the federal Fair Housing Act.
“It is hard to see any part of society left untouched by the foreclosure crisis,” said NFHA President and CEO Shanna L. Smith. “Fortunately, private, non-profit fair housing organizations are stepping up to fight the negative effects of the crisis. Moreover, these groups are broadening their efforts to rid the nation of intractable segregation by addressing systemic barriers to housing integration.”
To read NFHA's 2011 Fair Housing Trends report, click here.
To read NFHA's press release about the report, click here.
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 NFHA PROVIDES INPUT ON FINANCIAL REFORM
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On July 21, 2010, the National Fair Housing Alliance responded to an invitation for public input on reform of the housing finance system. NFHA's response offers a fair housing perspective on the roles that the housing finance system must fulfill in order to ensure that housing opportunity, and the path to building wealth that it offers, are available throughout the country in an equitable manner.
Click here to download NFHA's input on housing finance reform.
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| NFHA TESTIFIES BEFORE U.N. ON FORECLOSURE CRISIS
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On October 26, Ben Clark testified on behalf of NFHA before Raquel Rolnik, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, about the fair housing implications of the foreclosure crisis. In his testimony, Clark discussed NFHA's specific policy recommendations to address the crisis.
Read the full testimony here.
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| Fair Housing and the Troubled Asset Relief Program: How TARP Funds Could (And Should) be Used to Improve Our Neighborhoods.
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As America struggles to emerge from its current economic crisis, the requirement to affirmatively further fair housing is as important as ever. Government efforts to jumpstart the economy have involved massive spending on housing and community development. For example, the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), the single largest program in place to address the economic crisis, has recapitalized banks with the intention of restoring their ability to lend and has worked to provide homeowners on the brink of foreclosure with opportunities to modify their loans before it is too late. Because the recession has hit communities of color the hardest, and because the recession began in part because of failed discriminatory mortgage loans made in those communities, any attempts to ease the recession must involve explicit plans to increase residential and economic opportunities for the residents of those neighborhoods.
Click here to read NFHA's latest position paper on TARP and affirmatively furthering fair housing.
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| disparate impact under the fair housing act: a proposed approach
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