Fair Housing Initiative Program - Fair Housing Organizations Initiative | FR 6800 N 21 B

Opportunity Information: Apply for FR 6800 N 21 B

The Fair Housing Initiative Program (FHIP) Fair Housing Organizations Initiative (FHOI) is a competitive grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) designed to strengthen fair housing enforcement across the country. The overall purpose is to help nonprofit fair housing groups and related organizations prevent and eliminate discriminatory housing practices, while also ensuring that the public understands their rights and responsibilities under the Fair Housing Act. This funding sits within HUDs broader FHIP structure, which also includes the Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI) and the Education and Outreach Initiative (EOI). HUD notes that a separate funding notice is being published for Test Coordinator Training under EOI, meaning this particular opportunity is focused specifically on organizational development for enforcement capacity rather than that training track.

This FHOI notice offers funding through two distinct components. The Continued Development Component (CDC) makes $1,820,000 available to help existing eligible organizations build capacity and increase effectiveness in fair housing enforcement. Activities can include, for example, improving the ability to investigate housing discrimination allegations and expanding the scope and sophistication of enforcement work. The description highlights priorities such as addressing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, source of income, or religious bias, and it also points to growth areas like testing related to mortgage lending discrimination or appraisal bias. In practice, CDC is meant for organizations that already do fair housing work (or are positioned to do it) and need resources to professionalize, expand, or modernize their enforcement operations.

The second component, Establishing New Organizations Component (ENOC), makes $1,880,000 available and is aimed at expanding fair housing enforcement coverage into parts of the country that are currently unserved or underserved. Under ENOC, funding is provided to Qualified Fair Housing Enforcement Organizations (QFHOs) that act as sponsoring organizations. These sponsoring QFHOs use the grant to create and stand up a new, legally separate sponsored organization that will become a viable local or regional fair housing enforcement organization. The eligible activities under ENOC are those necessary to establish one new organization capable of conducting testing and other enforcement-related work, with the expectation that the new entity will be operational and doing meaningful enforcement activity within the grant period.

Eligibility differs by component. For CDC, eligible applicants include QFHOs, Fair Housing Enforcement Organizations (FHOs), and other private nonprofit organizations seeking to build their enforcement capacity. For ENOC, the only eligible applicants are QFHOs that are sponsoring the creation of a new organization in an unserved or underserved area. Regardless of component, applicants must complete and submit Appendix B, the FHOI Eligibility Certification, as part of the application package. ENOC applications also require the sponsoring organization to submit a specific certification (Appendix B, Sections 1 and 2) confirming that the proposed new organization has the ability to become a FHO by the end of the grant period of performance. A key planning requirement is that the sponsoring organizations Statement of Work should show the sponsored organization engaging in enforcement-related activities by year two, signaling that this is not meant to be a long, indefinite start-up phase without on-the-ground enforcement.

ENOC also comes with important funding and oversight rules. HUD awards the full grant amount to the sponsoring QFHO, and that sponsor is responsible for distributing funds to the sponsored organization. HUDs Government Technical Representative (GTR) will monitor both the sponsoring and sponsored organizations to ensure their financial and management systems are adequate. If HUD finds that one or both organizations lack sufficient systems or controls, HUD may provide technical assistance, but it may also terminate the grant if deficiencies are not addressed. Administratively, the sponsoring organization may retain up to 25 percent of the grant funding per year for its own administrative purposes related to sponsoring, but it can only spend that amount on the administrative functions described in the Statement of Work. All remaining funds must be used to establish the new organization.

There are also limitations tied to how ENOC interacts with other FHIP funding streams. As a threshold rule, an ENOC-sponsored organization cannot receive additional funding under the Private Enforcement Initiative (PEI) until it becomes a QFHO or FHO. However, the new ENOC-sponsored organization is allowed to pursue additional funding through the Education and Outreach Initiative (EOI), which can help support education and outreach functions while the organization builds toward formal enforcement-organization status.

From a practical standpoint, this opportunity is best understood as capacity-building for fair housing enforcement, either by strengthening existing enforcement organizations (CDC) or by extending enforcement infrastructure into gaps where few or no enforcement groups operate (ENOC). HUD is explicitly emphasizing enforcement-adjacent competencies like investigations and testing, including emerging or under-addressed areas such as appraisal bias and mortgage lending discrimination. Finally, the notice clearly states that individuals, foreign entities, and sole proprietorships are not eligible to apply for or receive awards under this announcement.

Key administrative details from the listing include: the opportunity is a discretionary grant from HUD, tied to CFDA 14.417 (Housing); the funding opportunity number is FR 6800 N 21 B; the application closing date is 2024-11-19; the posting/creation date is 2024-09-20; the listed award ceiling is $1,880,000; and HUD expects to make about 8 awards.

• The Department of Housing and Urban Development in the housing sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Fair Housing Initiative Program - Fair Housing Organizations Initiative" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 14.417.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-09-20.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-11-19. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,880,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 8 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

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