Comment submitted by Angela Dawson-Milton, Seattle Office for Civil Rights

Agency : HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT Title : Empowerment Zones: Performance Standards for Utilization of Grant Funds Subject Category : Community facilities: Empowerment zones; grant funds utilization; performance standards Docket ID : RIN 2506-AC16 CFR Citation : 24 CFR 598 Published : June 08, 2005 Comments Due : August 08, 2005 Phase : PROPOSED RULES -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your comment has been sent. To verify that this agency has received your comment, please contact the agency directly. If you wish to retain a copy of your comment, print out a copy of this document for your files. Please note your REGULATIONS.GOV number. Regulations.gov #: EREG - 1 Submitted Jul 18, 2005 Author : Ms. ANGELA DAWSON-MILTON Organization : SEATTLE OFFICE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS Mailing Address : 700 THIRD AVE, SUITE 250 SEATTLE, WA 98108 US Attached Files : Comment : Comments re Sec. 115.206: Performance Standard 6: FHAPs are required under this standard to consistently and affirmatively seek to eliminate all prohibited practices under their fair housing laws. If HUD regards this as a real objective for the FHAP activities, then it must be careful to employ the appropriate measures of success to evaluate it. Success under Performance Standard 6 should result in a reduction of complaints to the FHAP. Performance Standard 7: The agency must demonstrate that it receives and processes a reasonable number of complaints cognizable under both the federal Fair Housing Act and the agency's fair housing statute or ordinance. This section of the rule provides that HUD will determine the reasonable number of complaints based on all relevant circumstances. The provision goes on to state a list of relevant considerations that is not all-inclusive. However, there are additional relevant circumstances that should be included in the rule. 1. The volume and frequency of outreach efforts performed by the agency should be considered when the reasonable number of complaints is being determined. If HUD determines that the agency has performed the appropriate amount and types of outreach, then a number of complaints that might otherwise be considered unreasonably low is likely attributable to something other than the agencys efforts. 2. HUD should also consider the staffing resources available to the agency. An agency located in a geographic area with a large population might be small. An agency should not be penalized in its performance review for not having a sufficient number of investigators to process a large number of HUD complaints. It is important for HUD to consider more than the relevant considerations listed in the proposed rule to ensure that its measure of the FHAPss performance is measuring the correct things. While a decreasing number of complaints made to an agency over time does not necessarily indicate a high awareness of fair housing rights and responsibilities in the jurisdiction, it is also possible that a falling number of complaints might be an indicator of just that. It is our goal that the education and outreach conducted by our agency will result in fewer instances of housing discrimination over time. The measures by which all FHAPs are evaluated should reflect the goals of the agencies to eliminate all prohibited practices under their fair housing laws, as required by Performance Standard 6. The final rule, and HUDs administration of it, should reflect the interdependence of the results of success under Performance Standards 6 and 7. Seattle Office for Civil Rights This comment was submitted through Regulations.gov. Please see HUD-2005-0009-0003 for the remainder of this comment.