Fair Housing

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) implementation of the Fair Housing Act's accessibility provisions, focusing on the: (1) organizations involved in administering fair housing programs; and (2) primary fair housing functions of those organizations.

GAO noted that: (1) the organizations involved in administering fair housing programs and activities include: (a) HUD; (b) state and local government agencies, whose participation is voluntary; (c) private and nonprofit grantees; and (d) the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division; (2) HUD's and the Department of Justice's roles are set forth in the Fair Housing Act; (3) the primary fair housing functions of these organizations include: (a) enforcing federal fair housing requirements; (b) educating various organizations about fair housing requirements; (c) monitoring the performance of organizations as they administer fair housing requirements; and (d) performing other activities, such as responding to public inquiries, conducting research, and addressing known administrative problems; (4) as part of enforcement, complaints about noncompliance with fair housing requirements, including the accessibility requirements, may be reported by individuals or grantees acting as advocates for individuals; (5) complaints generally are resolved through settlement, conciliation, dismissal, an administrative hearing, or civil court action; (6) HUD's education activities include issuing guidance on the act's accessibility requirements and providing training and information about the accessibility requirements to the general public, advocacy groups, and the housing industry; and (7) in addition, HUD is primarily responsible for ensuring that accessibility programs and activities are properly implemented by its grantees and by state and local governments.