National Fair Housing Alliance

Housing & community development: the housing and community development team at nfha works to create sustainable housing opportunities and thriving, well-resourced and inclusive communities utilizing the unique resources and tools available to the fair housing movement. These tools and resources allow us to invest in housing and community development strategies that specifically address the housing and lending barriers facing people of color and persons in other protected classes.

Enforcement: in 1968, the fair housing act was passed into law making housing discrimination unlawful throughout the nation. Despite this legal protection and decades of work by nfha and its members to educate and train persons and organizations, reinvest in communities, and advocate for policies that extend equity and equality in housing nationwide, housing discrimination persists. Nfha's enforcement efforts support its mission by engaging in activities to document and address unlawful housing discrimination throughout the country: - intake and referrals: nfha receives allegations of discrimination and connects persons with local fair housing organizations and other resources for investigation and advocacy services. Nfha may also provide investigation and advocacy services.- investigations: when nfha has reason to believe fair housing laws are being violated, it conducts investigations to assess the situation. Investigations are often conducted in collaboration with local fair housing centers and may cover multiple states. - counteraction: in instances where nfha identifies discrimination, nfha diverts its resources to address documented discrimination through, for example, re-training, re-education campaigns, and outreach activities. - elimination and prevention: nfha leverages fair housing laws to eliminate discrimination it has documented, prevent future discrimination, and provide relief to individuals and communities harmed by discrimination. - community reinvestment: nfha seeks to reinvest in communities harmed by discrimination, and to make neighborhoods and persons whole.- amicus briefs: nfha engages in amicus briefs to support the development of strong fair housing jurisprudence.

Responsible ai: the responsible ai program is a multi-faceted effort designed to eliminate bias in algorithmic-based systems used in housing and financial services, increase transparency and explainability for ai tools, outline ethical standards for responsible tech, advance effective policies for regulating ai tools, and increase diversity and inclusion in the tech field. The goal is to have our "gold standard" of algorithmic fairness adopted by regulators, developers, and consumers of ai-based systems.this initiative focuses on five main goals:- developing solutions for removing bias from the technologies that shape our lives- increasing transparency and explainability for ai tools- advancing research to help reduce bias in tech- developing policies that promote more effective oversight for ai tools- supporting efforts to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in the tech field

Public policy: nfha plays a pivotal role in providing important research and information to policy-makers and regulators. Nfha supports policy initiatives that advance our goals of eliminating discrimination in housing and expanding equal access to homeownership opportunities. Some key public policy accomplishments include restoring critical fair housing and lending rules to advance racial justice and fairness for all; helping to generate 70 percent of the public comments in favor of the department of housing and urban development's affirmatively furthering fair action proposed rule; and leading advocacy efforts to make the case for systemic reforms of the home valuation process.

Consulting & compliance: nfha provides a full range of consulting and compliance services to housing, real estate, mortgage lending, appraisal, homeowners insurance, tech, and other companies. This includes customized training programs and assessment of all policies and practices for compliance with fair housing/fair lending laws. Nfha also provides training and consulting for non-profit fair housing, civil rights, social justice, governmental and community development organizations on fair housing enforcement, education, and outreach, affirmatively furthering fair housing, and other subjects designed to promote fair housing throughout the nation.

Keys unlock dreams: the keys unlock dreams initiative (kudi) is a nationwide initiative led by the national fair housing alliance (nfha) designed to achieve five major goals: 1. Remove structural barriers that perpetuate racial inequality;2. Expand affordable and fair housing options;3. Prevent an unbalanced recovery from the covid-19 pandemic;4. Empower consumers and stakeholders with critical information and resources; and5. Help close the racial wealth and homeownership gaps. Keys unlock dreams promotes programs and products supporting sustainable mortgages for affordable housing. It also advances programs that create sustainable inclusive communities. The keys unlock dreams initiative connects consumers and other stakeholders with important resources and events to educate people about fair housing and fair credit opportunities to create vibrant, inclusive communities.

Member services: nfha provides technical assistance to member organizations; advocates on behalf of members on a range of issues; conducts extensive training programs in the form of webinars, in-service events, conferences and its fair housing school (r) training program; and collaborates with members on regional and national systemic investigations. These efforts are designed to build capacity for providing assistance to victims of discrimination and to improve proficiency of education and enforcement efforts at the local level.