OPENING DOORS TO FAIR HOUSING: ENFORCING THE AFFIRMATIVELY FURTHER PROVISION OF THE FAIR HOUSING ACT THROUGH 42 U.S.C. 1983

This Note analyzes the 1983 enforceability of the affirmatively further provision of the Fair Housing Act, which requires the Department of Housing and Urban Development to promote nondiscrimination, residential integration, and equal access to housing benefits in its housing programs. Through regulations, this duty also extends to local governments and public housing authorities receiving federal housing funds. Following the Supreme Court's opinion in Gonzaga University v. Doe, which articulated a stringent test for 1983 enforceability based on congressional intent to create a private enforceable right, district courts have inconsistently interpreted whether 1983 can enforce violations of 3608(e) (5). This Note argues that despite this discrepancy among district courts, 3608(e) (5) confers an individual right of equal access to fair, integrated housing in federally assisted public housing programs, which remains enforceable against local governments and public housing authorities under 1983.