Assessing Affirmative Fair Housing: North Texas

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Examine how the planning dividend stemming from the AFH effort can be sustained in the current HUD environment.
• Reflect on the best strategies for regional collaboration to affirmatively further fair housing.
• Appraise how (or what) we can learn from HUD’s actions.

MORE SESSION DETAILS

Examine North Texas Regional Housing Assessment’s (NTRHA) approach to the challenges and opportunities of furthering affordable fair housing in Dallas-Fort Worth. Challenges are characterized by: a recent landmark court ruling upholding disparate impact under the Fair Housing Act; housing affordability slipping precipitously due to booming real estate markets; and HUD's mixed signals regarding its responsibility to safeguard the right to fair housing.
See brief presentations from Dallas’ Fair Housing/Human Rights Office, and the NTRHA planning and aligned professionals working on social equity. They highlight the assessment’s findings (e.g., patterns of racial and ethnic segregation, concentrations of poverty and housing problems for persons with disabilities, seniors, etc.) and critical barriers to accessing opportunity.
HUD’s 2018 suspension of the AFFH process, which undercut many local jurisdictions’ investment in their participatory processes and newfound commitments toward furthering fair housing, are not unique to the DFW region. A breakout session focuses discussion on:
• How can the AFH momentum be sustained beyond analysis of impediments protocols?
• What are the best strategies for regional collaboration to affirmatively further fair housing?
• How (or what) can we learn from HUD’s actions?

Session Speakers

Beverly Davis
Speaker
City of Dallas
Dallas, TX

Flora A. Brewer
Speaker
University of Texas at Arlington, College of Architecture, Planning and Public A
Fort Worth, TX

Lorin R. Carter
Speaker
C-Suite Consulting
Dallas, TX

Myriam Igoufe
Moderator
Dallas Housing Authority
Arllington, TX

Stephen P. Mattingly
Speaker
University of Texas at Arlington
Arlington, TX