NLIHC's Advocates Guide

The National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) publishes an Advocates' Guide to Housing and Development Policy annually for its members, and makes it available on their website.  It is a great resource, especially for people who may not be familiar with all of the various housing programs.  It comes in at 275 pages, but really, much of it is descriptions of programs and policies, so there's no need to read the entire thing all the way through.  Read whatever strikes your fancy.

For instance, the complaint to HUD by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Fair Housing Council (MMFHC) might be something you want to learn more about.  MMFHC alleges that:

In order to receive federal funds, including CDBG and HOME dollars, Waukesha County must certify to HUD that it analyzes impediments to fair housing and takes action to overcome identified impediments. MMFHC’s complaint alleges that the County has failed to comply with its own civil rights certifications and has continued funding local governments whose laws and policies perpetuate racial and ethnic segregation.

You may be thinking "what the heck is impediments to fair housing?!?"  Go to the handy Advocates' Guide and in the Table of Contents, you see " Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing: Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice " on Page 16.  At that page and the next few, you learn the background of Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing and how communities are required to do an "Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choices" to identify the barriers in the communities and to take steps toward removing those barriers.  They even give some guidance to advocates!