Department of Housing and Urban Development Releases Equity Plan
On his first day in office, President Biden issued an Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government. In April, the White House released a racial justice and equity plan that addresses the systematic barriers in federal policies and programs that impact the nations’ communities of color and underserved communities.
More than 90 federal agencies have since released plans of their own, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD’s plan includes actions that seek to reduce the racial homeownership gap and to center equity in the provision of services to people experiencing homelessness. Actions are centered on a wide variety of areas, including:
- Procurement— expanding outreach to increase the number of small businesses/disadvantaged businesses in engaging in HUD’s procurement processes and to help them to navigate the complex federal procurement system.
- Fair Housing and Civil Rights—increasing staff resources to ensure complaints and civil rights matters are properly processed, investigated, and resolved, and creating new rules to strengthen the prohibition against housing discrimination.
- Homeownership—increasing access to homeownership for Black, Latino, Native American, LGBTQ+, and other underserved populations by removing barriers, strengthening accountability, and creating new homeownership pathways through different housing types, lending, asset, and credit building opportunities.
- Homelessness—supporting greater equity in the provision of homeless services.
The U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) also released a plan focusing on four values—racial equity, decriminalization, inclusion, and Housing First. Read more about the USICH plan here.