NEW ORLEANS – Wednesday, July 8, the Obama Administration released new regulations that can provide important pathways to opportunity for New Orleans residents. The new fair housing regulation – aimed at promoting diverse, inclusive communities and overcoming the negative effects of segregation – was issued today by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The regulation is designed to guide jurisdictions in complying with their existing obligations to “affirmatively further fair housing,” a key provision of the 1968 Fair Housing Act.

The Fair Housing Act requires state and local governments to consider how to eliminate fair housing barriers for people of color, families with children, and people with disabilities.

For the first time, the rules will provide jurisdictions that receive federal funds, such as the City of New Orleans, with the tools to assess where segregated living patterns still persist, and to determine what the municipalities can do to overcome them.  The guidance will include substantial data on local conditions that can help jurisdictions identify and overcome segregation, concentrated poverty, and other barriers to equal housing opportunity in their communities.

“Where we live too often determines the opportunities that we have access to,” said Cashauna Hill, Executive Director of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center. “The issuance of this rule couldn’t come at a better time, when we as a city are still struggling to overcome persistent segregation, and to live up to the Fair Housing Act’s promise of open and integrated communities.”

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