Assessment of HUD's Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Program

摘要

The Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Program conducted under contract with HUD provided a simple, clear process that encouraged developers and managers to plan ahead and to meet their fair housing obligations with minimal effort. However, a program evaluation indicated that the program could be improved. The program stemmed from HUD regulations requiring that private developers and managers of most of HUD's assisted and subsidized housing undertake outreach efforts to households least likely to apply for that housing. Evaluation data came from interviews with HUD officials at all levels and with project developers and managers and from reviews of records of 76 housing projects in 5 area offices. The study focused on rental housing marketed and initially rented between October 1977 and February 1982. The developers and managers generally used newspaper advertising. Area offices varied in the stringency of their reviews of the plans. Just over one - third of the plans did not receive initial approval from the area offices. The area offices also did not have ready access to information on the status of all the projects and plans. While one - fourth of the efforts met or nearly met their goals for occupancy by target groups, one - third fell substantially short or did not meet any of their anticipated goals. However, households from target groups may have chosen not to apply for housing or may not have qualified financially. Recommendations for improving the implementation of the program, data tables, footnotes, and appendices presenting the research design and a list of 10 references are provided.