(Click on Maps to Enlarge)
The Atlanta Housing Authority has proposed the demolition and apparent disposition of the vast majority of its remaining stock of permanent affordable public housing in the City of Atlanta. In light of the immediate threat imposed by the submission of the AHA’s demolition applications to HUD and the pending processing of those applications for approval, the affected residents are urging the U.S. Justice Department to intervene by exercising its power to initiate litigation alleging a "pattern or practice" of discrimination or a denial of rights to a group of persons which raises an issue of general public importance. The right of public housing residents to consult in the development of government sponsored demolition and relocation plans affecting their communities, in the context of the national trend toward eliminating permanent affordable housing, is an issue of national importance represented well in this case.
The residents are also urging their congressman Rep. John Lewis, whose congressional district includes all of the targeted public housing communities, to intervene by way of congressional inquiry and demand that HUD hold off from approving any of the AHA's demolition applications until HUD's Regional Office for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity in Atlanta and HUD's Regional Office of the Inspection General in Atlanta conduct full investigations of the AHA's proposed demolition and relocation plans for violations of the Fair Housing Act and the residents' equal protection and due process rights.
The City of Atlanta has a deficiency in affordable housing of approximately 137,191 units. (See Table 5-3, Chap.5, Sawicki, D., Fair Share Housing in the Atlanta Region, Georgia Tech City and Planning Dept., 2003). Fifty-nine percent (81,191 units) of this housing deficiency represents the need for units having rents less than $600 per month. Id. Atlanta is comprised of 61.4% African Americans, of which 33% are in poverty, compared to whites, who comprise 33.2% of the population, of which 8.5% are in poverty. (Source: Figures compiled by the Urban Institute using 2000 U.S. Census Data). In more specific terms, African Americans comprise 83% of those living in poverty in the City of Atlanta. Id. In sum, Atlanta’s affordable housing deficiency has a disparate impact on the ability of African American families to secure safe and decent housing.
The existing permanent public housing stock, as well as housing opportunities accessible by Section 8/rent assistance vouchers are concentrated in predominately African American neighborhoods with high rates of poverty. (See maps above excerpted from Oakley, D. & Ruel, E., Georgia State University, Mapping Voucher Housing in Metro Atlanta, Implications for Public Housing Relocation, Feb. 2008; see also related video on legislative hearing presentation given by Georgia State University Professor Deirdre Oakley). The existing location of permanent affordable public housing in racially and economically segregated areas of Atlanta, and the restraints on African American families to integrate into less racially and economically segregated communities through the use of Section 8/rent assistance vouchers, are a result of a combination of the legacy of past public segregation policies, as well as the continuation of present day discriminatory public policies and current private rental market discriminatory practices. The private market discriminatory practices take form in the refusal of private landlords to accept rent assistance vouchers from low income African Americans in predominately white and more affluent communities, while present day discriminatory public policies take the form of exclusionary zoning practices that create and maintain barriers to the creation of affordable housing in predominately white and more affluent communities. For example, in the latter instance, some northern Metro Atlanta counties, which are critical to a meaningful regional deconcentration of poverty strategy, have imposed minimum lot sizes of 1 acre, or maximum density for multi-family projects of 10 units to the acre, or do not allow multi-family projects at all. (See Testimony by Raymond L. Kunsiansky, Jr. COO on behalf of Hattie B. Dorsey, President and CEO, The Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, Inc., before the Millennial Housing Commission, Atlanta, Georgia, March 12, 2001). These form of impediments to regional fair housing have been successfully redressed in other parts of the country as illustrated in the landmark cases Gautreaux v. Chicago Housing Authority, 296 F. Supp 907 (N.D. Ill 1969) and Southern Burlington County N.A.A.C.P. v. Mount Laurel Township, (Mount Laurel I, 67 N.J. 151 (1975) and Mount Laurel II, 92 N.J. 158 (1983)). Gautreaux and Mount Laurel provide case studies of successful affirmative fair housing remedies implemented through intergovernmental cooperation to deconstruct flawed and illegal public policies that created and maintained racial and poverty segregation patterns in housing and education. The Atlanta Housing Authority's proposed demolition and relocation plans, without securing affirmative fair housing remedies through intergovernmental cooperation, present a case study in the opposite direction in the furtherance of federal fair housing policy. (See video presenting an example of intergovernmental cooperation in the State of Oregon to promote inclusionary zoning solutions to create affordable housing).
The AHA’s proposed relocation plan calls for displaced families to be relocated through the issuance of Section 8/rent assistance vouchers. However, private landlords are not required to accept rent assistance vouchers, and as the evidence indicates in the above maps, without affirmative fair housing remedies in place, the relocation of residents displaced as a result of the proposed demolitions will be restrained to racially and economically segregated enclaves. While affirmative fair housing remedies such as a mandatory inclusionary zoning ordinance (requiring 15 to 20 percent set asides of all new housing development to address the fair share housing deficits) have been proposed to the City Council of Atlanta for consideration, to date the City of Atlanta has not enacted such an ordinance or any other affirmative action strategy by which to meaningfully and effectively redress the existing inequality of fair share housing opportunities that disparately impact African American families. Despite these conclusions being brought to the attention of Mayor Shirley Franklin by resident leaders, she unilaterally signed off on behalf of the City of Atlanta to approve the AHA's proposed demolition and relocation plans without public hearing, which allowed the AHA to submit its plans as uncontested by local government to HUD for approval, notwithstanding the strenuous objections by city council members whose districts include the targeted public housing communities. In sum, the AHA’s relocation plans do not objectively nor convincingly demonstrate how displaced families will secure equal access to housing opportunities outside of the racially and economically segregated areas illustrated in the above maps, or for that matter, how they will find adequate housing opportunities within the already saturated segregated areas in which Section 8/rent assistance vouchers acceptance by the private rental market is currently concentrated.
In this context, it appears that the intentional elimination of the AHA’s remaining stock of permanent public affordable housing, occupied almost exclusively by African American families, at this juncture, would result in a double insult to the civil rights of African Americans, in so far that it would displace African American families who have attained affordable housing security, while compounding the lack of fair share housing opportunities for African Americans in general in the City of Atlanta by increasing the already significant affordable housing deficiency within the city. Despite these facts, the Atlanta Housing Authority has engaged in the de facto demolition of its remaining stock of public housing projects without addressing the complaints and concerns of the affected residents about the discriminatory impact that will result from resident relocation being restrained to racially and economically segregated neighborhoods.
Since July 7, 2007, the resident advisory boards of the affected public housing communities have attempted to consult with the Atlanta Housing Authority regarding its proposed demolition plans affecting over 3,000 permanent units of affordable public housing. The AHA has refused and continues to refuse to engage in meaningful consultation with the resident advisory boards as required by federal law, (See Section 18 of the Housing Act of 1937, as amended; see also 24 CFR 970.4), in the development of its demolition and relocation plans, including, but not limited to: 1) denying the affected residents and their representative advisory boards an opportunity to examine and interrogate the AHA’s justifications for the proposed demolitions; 2) refusing to consult with the affected residents and their representative advisory boards on how the proceeds from the disposition of any of the properties to the private market might be secured for the benefit of persons eligible to receive public housing assistance; 3) refusing to consult with the affected residents and their representative advisory boards on how displaced residents will be targeted and recruited for jobs and jobs training opportunities arising out of the demolition and disposition of the properties pursuant to Section 3 of the HUD Act of 1968 (See also Section 109 of Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, which requires that "no person in the United States shall be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity funded in whole or in part with Federal financial assistance, on the grounds of race, color, national origin, religion, or sex"); and 4) refusing to consult with the affected residents and their representative advisory boards over concerns that the proposed relocation plans for displaced families will violate the federal Fair Housing Act.
Ironically, these issues arise in Atlanta during the 40th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act and the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. HUD will hold its National Fair Housing Policy Conference in Atlanta during the week of April 7-11 at the Atlanta Hilton.
Concerned members of the public can support the affected residents in their efforts to protect their civil rights by contacting the following offices and demanding that the proposed demolitions be put on hold until the following federal officials and authorities undertake a full investigation of the Atlanta Housing Authority's conduct and its proposed demolition and relocation plans:
Representative John Lewis
U.S. House of Representatives
5th District, Georgia
Equitable Bldg, Suite 1920
100 Peachtree St. NW
Atlanta, GA 30303
Telephone: (404) 659-0116
Fax: (404) 331-0947
U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Housing and Civil Enforcement Section, NWB
Washington, D.C. 20530
Telephone: (202) 514-4713
Fax: (202) 514-1116
Hearing Impaired: (202) 305-1882 (TTY)
James Sutton, HUD Region IV FHEO Director
Atlanta Regional Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Five Points Plaza
40 Marietta Street, 16th Floor
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-2806
Telephone: (404) 331-5140
Toll Free: 1-800-440-8091
Hearing Impaired: (404) 730-2654
Regional Inspector General for Audit
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Richard B. Russell Federal Building
75 Spring Street, SW, Room 330
Atlanta, GA 30303-3388
Telephone: (404) 331-5001
Fax: (404) 730-2382
To state objections to the Atlanta Housing Authority's proposed demolition applications currently under consideration by HUD, the concerned public may contact the HUD office responsible for determining whether to reject or approve demolition applications, at the following contact:
Ainars Rodins
Director of
US
77 West Jackson Boulevard
Room 2401
Chicago
Telephone: (312) 886-9754, ext. 2816
Fax: (312) 886-6413
Email: Ainars.Rodins@hud.gov
