Fair Housing Legal Toolkit for Permanent Supportive Housing Providers: Addressing Local Opposition to PSH Developments

The Fair Housing Legal Toolkit was created for the Texas Supportive Housing Coalition to present ways in which fair housing laws can help coalition members confront opposition to the development of permanent supportive housing (“PSH”).

The Legal Toolkit highlights proactive legal measures that PSH providers can take to counteract local opposition to the development of housing. The Toolkit begins with an overview of fair housing laws and a list of legal and administrative tools available to PSH developers. The next section discusses in more depth how the federal Fair Housing Act impacts government decisions concerning PSH. The toolkit ends with two appendices that discuss: (1) a case study from Dallas highlighting how fair housing laws can be used to help overcome community opposition to a PSH project; and (2) two recent legal developments that have resulted in heightened enforcement of local governmental obligations to affirmatively further fair housing.