Fair Housing

United States Environmental Protection Agency building in Washington, D.C.

Could This Supreme Court Ruling Affect Fair Housing?

Experts on housing law discuss the potential repercussions of a recent Supreme Court decision that struck down the EPA’s authority in limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Could conservative judges apply the same rationale to limit HUD's authority?

August 30, 2022 - Shelterforce Magazine

A group of tents line a street in front of Los Angeles City Hall.

Analysis: California’s Bumpy Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Implementation

California took the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule and ran with it. Fully realizing the goals of the AFFH in California will require more work, according to a recent analysis.

June 8, 2022 - Policies for Action

Contracting with the Community

To connect with hard-to-reach communities, a Twin Cities agency diverted some of its consulting budget away from national firms and to organizations that already had those relationships.

November 12, 2021 - Shelterforce Magazine

Chicago Chinatown

In Defense of Asian American Neighborhoods

How do you address a history of anti-Asian housing discrimination? Not by destroying Asian American communities.

November 11, 2021 - Shelterforce Magazine

For Rent

The Pandemic Effect: Landlord Edition

A new survey highlights the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on small landlords, who provide much of the nation's low-cost rental housing.

September 9, 2021 - Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University

Eviction Crisis

New Fair Housing Rule Should Address Evictions

HUD's new fair housing rule crucially overlooks the role of evictions in perpetuating residential segregation.

July 27, 2021 - Bloomberg CityLab

Rep. Marcia Fudge

White House Reinstates Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule

The Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule is back, but with one critical change that seems to respond to complaints used by Trump administration officials to rescind the rule in 2020.

June 14, 2021 - The Washington Post

Central Los Angeles

L.A. Planners Working to Shift Affordable Housing Distribution for More Equitable Results

Almost all the affordable housing development in L.A. in the past decade has occurred in majority-minority neighborhoods. The L.A. Department of City Planning is looking for ways to make sure high-income areas do more of their fair share.

June 9, 2021 - Urbanize LA

A Black woman stands in front of a home holding an umbrella and smiling.

The Numerous Obstacles—Past and Present—Facing Black Homeowners

Black Americans pay a higher price to be homeowners—and the number of those who can afford to pay that price is dropping quickly.

May 17, 2021 - NPR

Boston

Boston to Require Fair Housing Review for New Developments

The Boston Zoning Code is one of the first in the nation to Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing.

February 23, 2021 - Shelterforce Magazine

Minneapolis Protests

Shifting the Fair Housing Narrative

The nation's fair housing policies are built on a foundation of assumptions that neglects the community and culture of low-income neighborhoods.

January 18, 2021 - Shelterforce Magazine

2020 Campaign

What the Presidential Debate Revealed About the Suburbs

Trump has been repeatedly criticized for misunderstanding the suburbs, but former Vice President Jose Biden's take on the subject during the debate also missed the mark.

October 1, 2020 - Bloomberg CityLab

HUD

HUD Rule Change Allows Landlords to Use Screening Services Despite Discrimination Concerns

A revised U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development rule makes it more difficult to submit claims of housing discrimination when a landlord's decisions is influenced by a third-party tenant screening service.

October 1, 2020 - The Markup

Connecticut

Lawyers Taking the Single-Family Zoning Fight to a Connecticut Town

Open Communities Alliance, along with law students and professors at a fair housing development clinic at Yale Law School, have proposed a development meant to trigger the exclusionary zoning code in the town of Woodbridge, Connecticut.

October 1, 2020 - The Connecticut Mirror

Ben Carson

The Hypocrisies and Troubles of Local Control

President Trump has opinions about the sanctity of local control that don't agree with his other opinions about local control. This is a cautionary tale.

September 16, 2020 - James Brasuell

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Ben Carson’s Clear Disdain for Fair and Affordable Housing

Carson has spent much of his time as HUD secretary attacking the housing programs, initiatives, and regulations central to the agency’s mission.

August 26, 2020 - Curbed

Washington, D.C.

I Have Spent My Career Advocating for Fair Housing. It's Good to See Obama's Rule Go.

The Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule, as adopted by the Obama administration and scrapped by the Trump administration, didn't include the policy tools necessary to achieve fair housing in the United States, according to this opinion piece.

August 12, 2020 - Jonathan Zasloff

Ben Carson

Critics: Trump's Fair Housing Statements a 'Political Stunt'

President Trump is trying to marshal votes by raising fears about the effects of the Affirmatively Fair Housing Act on the suburbs, where the president is losing support among voters.

July 22, 2020 - Associated Press via U.S. World News and Report

Suburban Home

Disparate Impact Won't Save Us From Exclusionary Zoning

The Fair Housing Act (FHA) imposes liability upon landlords and governments whose policies have a discriminatory effect against racial minorities. However, the courts have interpreted this doctrine narrowly.

March 30, 2020 - Michael Lewyn

Presidential Campaign

Bloomberg Comments Put Redlining, Recession Back in the Spotlight

Some of the opinions of Michael Bloomberg, billionaire candidate for president, haven't aged well since his time as the mayor of New York City.

February 18, 2020 - CityLab

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.

Planning for Universal Design

Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.