HUD News

Washington- An advanced notice of Proposed Rulemaking was published by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the Federal Register. HUD is planning to revise Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 implementing regulation at 24 C.F.R. part 8 and requests public comment so that it can assist HUD in considering potential revisions. Section 504 prohibits discrimination on the grounds of disability in programs and activities receiving federal assistance from HUD.

There is a need to align HUD’s Section 504 regulation with environmental, societal, and technological advances, and emerging issues are acknowledged by HUD’s section 504. Consequently, HUD seeks the public’s input on potential changes to its regulation implementing section 504 for HUD’s recipients seeking federal financial assistance by providing this notice.

Demetria L. McCain, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity says, “ Inclusive communities and accessible, affordable housing are at the core of HUD’s mission. Modern standards for accessible program design must reflect advances in building practices and technology. Hearing from the public, particularly stakeholders most directly impacted, is an integral part of HUD’s rulemaking process”.

The public needs to respond to several questions relating to HUD’s existing Section 504 regulation published in 1988. The Department is gathering information on what it needs to consider relating to recipients’ obligations such as the use of websites & other technology, how to account for advances in accessible design, auxiliary aids, and services such as assistive technologies. Besides this, the Department is also considering whether to adopt updated federal accessibility standards for compliance purposes with HUD’s Section 504 regulation.

HUD seeks input before HUD proposes regulatory changes for comment from all members of the public including disabled individuals, HUD recipients such as Public Housing Agencies, state or local government, housing providers, tribes, and social service providers. All the participants can submit comments electronically via www.regulations.gov or via the methods described in the advance notice of proposed rulemaking.