Earlier this month, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) suspended implementation of its Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, which requires local governments receiving federal housing and community development funds to look at patterns of segregation within their borders and across their regions.

Suspending the rule threatens to weaken incentives for local governments and their constituents to analyze patterns of segregation comprehensively and at a regional scale, and to come up with concrete strategies to overcome them.

Urban Institute research suggests that HUD should encourage communities to think regionally about segregation and that reducing stubborn patterns of segregation can benefit a region’s economy. Our experience also shows that access to quality data at the local and regional levels can spark important conversations and action to increase access to opportunity for all.

Read the full article about how HUD can help communities think regionally when it comes to housing segregation by Mark Treskon and Solomon Greene at Urban Institute.