Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan

Owners must comply with the requirements of their HUD-approved Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan, which is designed to promote equal housing choice for all prospective tenants regardless of race, color, religion, sex, disability, familial status, or national origin.

1. The purpose of the plan is to ensure that eligible families of similar income levels will have a similar range of housing opportunities.

2. The plan outlines marketing strategies the owner must use, including special efforts to attract persons who are least likely to apply because of such factors as the racial and ethnic composition of the neighborhood in which the property is located. Marketing should also seek to reach potential applicants outside the immediate neighborhood if marketing only within the neighborhood would create a disparate impact against certain classes (e.g., if the entire neighborhood includes no minorities).

3. Owners must monitor the results of the marketing effort and adjust their marketing techniques as necessary.

4. Owners may not require local residency as a prerequisite for admission. However, with HUD approval, owners may give preference to residents of the municipality in which the property is located. HUD will approve the use of local residency preferences only if such preferences are found to be consistent with nondiscrimination and equal opportunity requirements and the goals of the Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan. See paragraph 4-6 C.1 for more information about residency preferences.

5. HUD does not require subsidized multifamily projects built prior to February 1972 to have an Affirmative Fair Housing Marketing Plan, unless the property has been substantially rehabilitated subsequent to February 1972 or the plan is required by a housing assistance contract. However, owners of such properties are required to affirmatively market their units to those least likely to apply.

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