What We Do
DBPC is a civil rights law firm with over thirty years of experience. We have litigated ground-breaking Fair Housing Act and housing desegregation cases.
We do fair housing, environmental justice work, municipal services discrimination cases for neighborhoods of color, voting rights cases, and other civil rights work.
We represent advocacy organizations. One of those is the Inclusive Communities Project, Inc., a nonprofit fair housing group that is one of few housing mobility organizations to help low-income tenants obtain desegregated housing.
Our litigation has resulted in unique remedies and helped thousands of tenants and homeowners.
Practice Areas
Low-Income Housing Tax Credit desegregation
The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program has replicated the racial segregation and unequal conditions in the deliberately racially segregated federal funded public housing program. It has done so with the assistance of the national banks who own much of the LIHTC housing. Our firm represents low- income tenants denied equal neighborhood conditions and Black and Hispanic homeowners in LIHTC concentrated neighborhoods. These two groups are injured by the LIHTC segregation.
HUD housing
Congress authorizes and HUD disburses approximately $25 billion for HUD’s low-income voucher programs. Despite this federal funding, the housing provided remains substantially segregated the by race/ethnicity of the families in that housing and by the race/ethnicity of the locations in which the voucher housing is located. Congress, HUD, and housing experts have acknowledged the existence of remedies for the segregation. These remedies are not implemented in many parts of the country. Our firm represents low-income tenants and advocacy groups seeking remedies for the segregated housing.
Municipal services discrimination
The effects of official racial segregation of neighborhoods continue to impact neighborhoods of color today. In addition, there are ongoing municipal and governmental actions that often increase those inequalities. These neighborhood conditions continue despite the existence of federal funding to reduce segregation by promoting spatial deconcentration of housing opportunities for persons of lower income and the revitalization of deteriorating or deteriorated neighborhoods. Our firm represents residents and advocacy groups seeking to remedy unequal neighborhood conditions.
Unequal Industrial Zoning
The regime of legally enforced neighborhood racial segregation created the expectation that zoning would be used to steer undesirable, noxious, and hazardous industrial uses away from White neighborhoods and adjacent to and in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods. These patterns have seldom been remedied and are used to justify the current and continued existence and expansion of the zoning. Daniel and Beshara, P.C. represents homeowners and advocacy groups seeking remedies for industrial zoning adjacent to residential homes in neighborhoods of color.
Environmental Justice
Enforcement of the existing environmental protection laws on behalf of the residents of Black and Hispanic neighborhoods may provide remedies for past and present discrimination in zoning and municipal services without the need to prove intentional racial and ethnic discrimination. Our firm represents residents in environmental justice matters.
Walker v. HUD – Dallas Public Housing desegregation
This section sets out details of the judicial remedy for overt racial segregation in one of the nation’s largest cities. The segregation was part of the inception of the City of Dallas public housing system in 1937 and was robustly defended and perpetuated by the federal government, the City of Dallas, and the Dallas Housing Authority in civil rights litigation by our firm that began in 1985 and lasted past the end of the 20th century. Part of the case still remains subject to an active remedial order.
Public housing desegregation
Litigation by our firm was necessary to end official racial segregation in public housing throughout East Texas. Some elements of racial segregation were addressed by litigation also involving the Fort Worth, Texas and the Galveston, Texas housing authorities.
Exclusionary zoning
Cities have consistently used zoning and other land use practices to prevent the development of low income affordable multifamily and low-income affordable single-family housing in White suburban areas or other White neighborhoods. The U.S. Supreme Court classifies judicial cases challenging these practices because of the racially discriminatory effects as those that reside at the “heartland” of the Fair Housing Act. These practices continue and continue to injure Hispanic and Black tenants and Hispanic and Black homeowners. Our firm has brought cases seeking to remove barriers caused by exclusionary zoning.
Voting rights
New sets of political boundaries based on the 2020 U.S. Census and new sets of restrictions and other procedures are being adopted throughout the country. Drawing boundaries that dilute the votes of Black and Hispanic citizens will take advantage of the existence of predominantly White, Black, and Hispanic neighborhoods. Implementing procedures that take advantage of demographic racial disparities to dilute Black and Hispanic votes because of race is a continuing practice. Daniel and Beshara, P.C. have litigated voting rights cases.
Research & Investigation
Absent the existence of data analysis and the historical and current chronologies of government and institutional behavior to link injury with illegal actions, there is small chance of remedy for those injuries. The need for this research and investigation applies to individual cases as well as cases on behalf of groups. Some of the research provided by our firm is set out in this section.