In April, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) released its updated Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) Memo: Guidance for All Public Entities and for Housing Elements, along with a new, interactive AFFH Data Viewer tool to assist public agencies with preparing the AFFH portion of the Housing Element process. HCD will continue to provide comprehensive, ongoing support to local jurisdictions in complying with these new requirements.
As a reminder, with the passage of Assembly Bill 686 (2018), all of California’s public agencies have an obligation to affirmatively further fair housing. AB 686 requires state and local public agencies to take deliberate action to explicitly address, combat, and relieve disparities resulting from past and current patterns of segregation and to promote more inclusive communities. In addition, AB 686 requires that Housing Elements submitted to HCD after January 2021 include an assessment of fair housing practices, an analysis of the relationship between available sites and areas of high or low resources, and concrete actions in the form of programs to affirmatively further fair housing.
The webinar will provide further technical assistance to local jurisdictions in preparing the AFFH portion of their Housing Elements.
HCD Director Gustavo Velasquez will provide opening remarks and HCD staff will provide a high-level overview of how to comply with the new requirements, in addition to highlighting best practices and resources for local jurisdictions to achieve compliance.