Public housing desegregation

Daniel & Beshara have litigated and obtained remedial results in several ground-breaking public housing class action cases. The firm brought cases on behalf of Black public housing applicants and residents that have involved remedies for public housing segregation in the City of Dallas, in over 70 towns and cities in East Texas, in Galveston, and in Fort Worth. The remedies in these multi-year cases have included the improvement of housing conditions in the projects including the first-time provision of air conditioning for predominantly Black family projects. Other remedies required improvements to the neighborhood conditions around the public housing projects. The remedies obtained also created thousands of housing opportunities in desegregated locations with housing vouchers and housing mobility counseling as well as financial assistance such as security deposits to use the vouchers. The remedies included the development of public housing units in desegregated locations.

Walker v. HUD – City of Dallas public housing desegregation

The firm represents the Walker class of Black DHA public housing and voucher applicants and residents. The case began in 1985. For the full description of this case please see the Walker v. HUD page.

Young v. Pierce – East Texas public housing desegregation

The Young public housing desegregation case involving 70 plus housing authorities in 36 counties in East Texas, HUD, and the State of Texas was filed in 1980, but did not end until 2004.[1] Judge William Wayne Justice found HUD liable for intentional racial segregation and discrimination. Judge Justice’s opinion described the racially segregated public housing in East Texas:

The information produced by HUD indicates that the public housing sites it funds are segregated by race. Blacks live in one set of public housing sites, whites in another. Of 219 sites, made up of low rent sites under management, insured-assisted sites under management, and Section 8 new construction sites under management, 121—more than half—are completely segregated, one-race projects. An additional sixty-two project sites are 85% or more one-race. Young v. Pierce, 628 F. Supp. 1037, 1043-1044 (E.D. Tex. 1985).

The remedy obtained by Daniel & Beshara involved the equalization of conditions including the provision of air conditioning in the segregated black projects, desegregation of the tenant population in previously segregated black and white projects, use of the public housing and Section 8 programs and funding for a private fair housing organization to provide over 5,000 desegregated housing opportunities in predominantly white areas, equalization of neighborhood conditions around the predominantly black projects, injunctions against local cities blocking the development of public housing in white neighborhoods, the sale of the racially hostile Vidor public housing site and the use of the proceeds for housing opportunities in white areas that were accessible by black public housing tenants, and $13 million in State funding for neighborhood equalization. Most of the relief was obtained only after the record of HUD’s violations of previous remedial orders was compiled and presented to the Court.

The reported decisions in Young include Young v. Pierce, 544 F.Supp. 1010 (E.D. Tex. 1982), 628 F.Supp. 1037 (E.D. Tex. 1985), 640 F.Supp. 1476 (E.D. Tex. 1986); 822 F.2d 1368, 1376 (5th Cir. 1987).

Some of the Orders, Agreements, and Reports from the Young case are set out below:

A. The final judgment that was entered by the Court in 1995 is here. Judge Justice had ordered HUD to provide desegregation plans for all 70 public housing authorities that had to be implemented by those authorities.

B. The order modifying final judgment entered in 2004. This order includes a HUD manual on creating desegregated housing opportunities as exhibit 3 to the order. The Settlement Order is here and the Order modifying final judgment is here.

C. The agreement between the plaintiffs and the State of Texas for the last $4.4 million of the total $13 million that the State contributed to the neighborhood equalization activities required by the Final Judgment.

In 1986, Craig Flournoy and George Rodrigue, investigative journalists with the Dallas Morning News won the Pulitzer Prize for their investigation of the racial segregation in publicly subsidized housing in East Texas and nationwide. The 1986 Dallas Morning News series was entitled “Separate and Unequal.”

In 2019, Craig Flournoy wrote an article for the Cardozo Law Review on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Fair Housing Act. The article examines the creation of a separate and unequal system of federally-subsidized housing in the two decades following enactment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1968 Fair Housing Act. The author argues that erecting and maintaining a national system of taxpayer-assisted housing that blatantly violated federal fair housing laws, demonstrates the unwillingness of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and five presidential administrations to enforce the Fair Housing Act. Flournoy, C., “The Fair Housing Act: Enacted Despite the Mainstream Media, Neutered by the Federal Government’s Unwillingness to Enforce It,” 40 Cardozo Law Review 1101 (2019).

Other public housing cases

Commerce, Texas

Daniel & Beshara obtained remedial relief for Black public housing applicants and tenants in the public housing desegregation case involving the public housing in Commerce, Texas. The remedial relief included a sufficient utility allowance for the family public housing projects to have air conditioning. The Court ordered improvements to the units, projects and surrounding neighborhoods that would remedy the physical disparities between the Black projects and the White project. Other relief required environmental clean-up. NAACP v. Commerce Housing Authority, et al., 1998 WL 320307 (N.D. Tex. 1998) (Commerce, Texas public housing desegregation case).

Galveston, Texas

 In 1997, residents and applicants for public housing administered by Galveston Housing Authority (GHA) filed suit against the agency for failing to remedy the segregation related to the administration of the City’s Public Housing Program and entered into a consent decree to address the segregation. In 1997, HUD found GHA in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act for the segregated public housing. [link to 10 HUD 1997 Title VI finding Galveston HA.pdf ]. The segregation was not remedied despite the order directing GHA to deconcentrate its public housing. In 2008, the Island was hit by Hurricane Ike which significantly damaged all of the family public housing projects on the island. Significant public opposition to the rebuilding of those units ensued.

Fort Worth, Texas

The firm provided representation to the Ripley Arnold Public Housing Resident Association in their efforts to secure replacement and relocation housing as a result of the sale of the Ripley Arnold public housing complex in downtown Fort Worth. The resulting agreement required first the temporary and then the permanent one for one replacement of the Ripley Arnold units. The temporary and permanent replacement units are required to be in predominantly white areas.

[1] The case was filed by Michael Daniel and Elizabeth (Betsy) Julian. Ms. Julian withdrew from representation of the class in 1992. In addition to Mr. Daniel, Ms. Beshara began representing the class in 1991 and continued through the final remedial phase until the case ended in 2004.