1. Requesting approval of an Interlocal Agreement between Hidalgo County and (18) program participants within Hidalgo County including cities and public housing authorities, for the development of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Plan.
2. Requesting authorization for County Judge to sign any and all required documents.

 In July of 2015 the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a Final Rule on Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing. HUD’s new rule was meant to clarify and simplify existing fair housing obligations and create a more streamlined planning process. This assessment, known as Assessment to the Fair Housing (AFH), will assist communities analyze challenges to fair housing and assist in identifying their own goals and priorities to address fair housing barriers.

Acknowledging that fair housing issues cross jurisdictional boundaries, HUD encourages collaboration between program participants as well as among Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) and local governments in order to perform and submit a single regional Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH). Collaborative regional planning can be a useful approach to coordinate solutions for overcoming identified fair housing issues and contributing factors.

Consequently, the five local HUD entitlement communities of Hidalgo County (Urban County Program), City of McAllen, City of Edinburg, City of Mission and the City of Pharr, chose to collaborate on a regional AFH. Soon thereafter, the entitlement communities invited all the Hidalgo County PHAs to upcoming meetings. After positive and productive discussions, the PHAs agreed to participate. As a result, the first step in the collaboration of a regional AFH process is having a interlocal agreement.

PARTICIPANTS
City of Edinburg, City of McAllen, City of Mission, City of Pharr, County of Hidalgo, Housing Authority for the City of Alamo, Housing Authority for the City of Donna, Housing Authority for the City of Edcouch, Housing Authority for the City of Elsa, Housing Authority for the City of Edinburg, Housing Authority for the City of Hidalgo, Housing Authority for the City of La Joya, Housing Authority for the City of McAllen, Housing Authority for the City of Mercedes, Housing Authority for the City of Mission, Housing Authority for the City of Pharr, Housing Authority for the City of San Juan, Housing Authority for the City of Weslaco and the Housing Authority for the City of Hidalgo

APPROVED AS TO FORM
Atlas & Hall, L.L.P.
By Steve Crain
Date: October 11, 2016