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New Orleans Public Housing Residents File Class Action Lawsuit Against HUD

On June 27, attorneys from the Advancement Project, Loyola University School of Law, and the NAACP Gulf Coast Advocacy Center filed a class action lawsuit against HUD and the Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) on behalf of all African Americans residing in New Orleans public housing prior to August 29, 2005 and displaced by Hurricane Katrina. The residents claim that HUD and HANO, in their treatment of the New Orleans public housing residents’ previous homes in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, have violated various sections of the Fair Housing Act, the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments granting the right to due process and equal protection, as well as international law concerning internally displaced persons’ right to return.

The lawsuit asserts that the defendants’ actions have had a disproportionate impact on low income African Americans. The plaintiffs claim that abuses occurred when the defendants “intentionally [failed] to reopen [undamaged] public housing units whose residents were African American,” when they failed to repair damaged units, and when they announced the plan to demolish 5,000 public housing units in the City of New Orleans.

According to the lawsuit, HUD and HANO violated “their obligation to provide non-discriminatory access to safe, affordable housing for low income families.” The residents also accuse the defendants of a breach of contract and failure to uphold their statutory obligations to the public housing residents of New Orleans in their failure to consult with public housing residents prior to the planned demolition, a right stated in the U.S. Housing Act of 1937. They claim that, in addition to the 5,000 units slated for demolition, the “willful neglect” of many of the public housing units constitutes “a de facto demolition of such housing.”

As evidence of discrimination, the lawsuit cites several remarks made by public officials concerning the return of public housing residents. On September 29, HUD Secretary Alfonso Jackson said post-Katrina New Orleans “is not going to be as black as it was for a long time, if ever again.” The lawsuit also cited New Orleans City Council President Oliver Thomas’ remark on February 20 that, “We don’t need soap opera watchers all day…if displaced residents want to come back and want to live in public housing, they better want to work.” The plaintiffs claim that these remarks illustrate that the defendants’ decisions on the fate of the public housing stock were “motivated by discriminatory intent.”

The plaintiffs are asking for an injunction to prevent the demolition of any New Orleans public housing, cessation of further discrimination, the reopening of habitable units, and the prompt repair of damaged units, as well as an award of compensatory damages “for the economic loss, humiliation, embarrassment, and emotional distress,” that has been caused by the defendants.