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Strategy 18: Implement Recommendations of <br /> Regional Fair Housing Assessment <br /> Fair housing is housing that is available to anyone, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, family <br /> status, disability, or national origin, and free of barriers to housing choice in communities throughout <br /> the region. In order to foster compliance with the federal Fair Housing Act, communities receiving <br /> 1 support from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) community planning <br /> and development programs are obligated to affirmatively further fair housing. This means identifying <br /> barriers to fair housing choice and carrying out action plans to overcome the effects of these <br /> impediments. The objective is to eliminate housing discrimination and provide opportunities for <br /> inclusive patterns of housing occupancy. Communities must address fair housing for the "protected <br /> classes" listed above, and can choose to add in additional ones to this list and many corridor <br /> communities have chosen to do so. These policies need not be restricted to HUD assisted <br /> communities, but should be focused in all transit station areas where diversity and inclusiveness are <br /> vital. <br /> PSRC has developed a Regional Fair Housing Group that is working with HUD's guidance to conduct <br /> a Fair Housing Equity Assessment (FHEA) across the region. The FHEA will identify barriers to fair <br /> housing choice that reach across jurisdictional lines, and will identify areas of increasing segregation <br /> and racially/ethnically concentrated areas of poverty. The FHEA will highlight disparities in access to <br /> opportunity across the region and evaluate the equity of transit improvements across the region. <br /> Trends in discrimination cases, fair housing testing, mortgage lending practices, and capacity of fair <br /> housing enforcement agencies will be assessed. Action strategies of the FHEA will outline how <br /> different governmental and non-governmental partners can work across the region to remove barriers <br /> to fair housing. Tools to promote fair housing may include fair housing legislation, fair housing <br /> enforcement, mobility improvements,and zoning codes. <br /> Puget Sound Regional Council <br /> 18.1 Work with regional partners to identify barriers to fair housing choice, develop actions to address barriers,and <br /> implement recommendations of the FHEA. <br /> Transit Agencies <br /> .- 18.2 Participate in the development of the FHEA and its final implementation recommendations. <br /> QLocal Governments <br /> -a 18.3 Adopt policies to address universal design principles to ensure that development and public spaces are <br /> accessible to people with disabilities. <br /> = 18.4 Promote fair housing practices in station areas through actions such as targeting fair housing outreach and <br /> 47 educational resources to these areas, and building capacity of community groups to do outreach and <br /> education. <br /> E 18.5 Participate in the development of the FHEA and its final implementation recommendations. <br /> u State <br /> ie 18.6 Adopt state legislation that prohibits housing discrimination against rental subsidy holders. <br /> Housing Enforcement Agencies <br /> 18.7 Support fair housing planning in station areas with focused fair housing testing, enforcement, and education <br /> and outreach strategies in these areas <br /> Priority Transit Communities for this Strategy <br /> • Fair housing strategies are applicable to all transit communities in the region. <br /> 47 <br /> The Growing Transit Communities Strategy I Public Review Draft I May 2013 <br />