Town of Arlington, Fair Housing Action Plan (July 2021)

Citation: Town of Arlington, Fair Housing Action Plan (July 2021)
Jurisdiction: Arlington (municipal)
Source: Official source
Original Source: https://www.arlingtonma.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/57214/637641171662530000 ↗

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Fair Housing in Flux
Fair housing has been a regular part of our regional discourse for decades, especially as it relates to race in
cities and suburban areas. The history of the fair housing movement in greater Boston is complex and
controversial. There was rarely consensus amongst advocates and policymakers on the value of fair housing
efforts. Even when community efforts aligned behind fair housing, symbolic wins were often prioritized over
material progress on fair housing goals. In 2020, the reemergence of mass protests and the Movement for Black
Lives renewed the public conversation on discrimination, inequality, and segregation in housing. Fair housing also
became a political cudgel in the 2020 presidential election.
These public debates followed a period of significant flux in fair housing law. The 1968 Fair Housing Act
requires that all communities receiving HUD funds (such as Arlington) “affirmatively further fair housing” (AFFH),
though the law gives no definition for what that entails. Since 1988, HUD has accepted the production of an
“Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice” (AI) as fulfilling the AFFH requirement. The rules around the
format and content of an AI were loose, and in 2009, HUD found many communities’ AIs were out of date or
unacceptable.

2 https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/fair_housing_and_related_law

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Arlington Fair Housing Action Plan