HUD Policy Results in Racial Segregation, Class Action Lawsuit Says

Hartford, Conn. residents have lodged a class action lawsuit against the Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as its head, Ben Carson, alleging that the federal agency promoted racial segregation under policies that kept low-income families out of the suburbs.

According to the plaintiffs, including advocacy organization the Center for Leadership and Justice, the agency kept low income families in “racially concentrated areas,” such as North Hartford, rather than moving them to Farmington or Glastonbury, Conn.

“Although HUD has a duty to counteract segregation in Hartford, it has instead perpetuated segregation there,” claims the complaint accusing HUD of violating the Fair Housing Act.

The Hartford Courant reports that the class action lawsuit was filed after a protracted legal battle between a New York City subsidized housing landlord and its residents. Indeed, according to the Courant, residents of these subsidized housing projects faced horrific conditions, including pest infestations, mold, leaky pipes, electrical hazards, and nearby crime.

The residents won that lawsuit and HUD was called in to assist in the relocation of residents of the Hartford housing in 2018 and 2019. However, the plaintiffs say that HUD dropped the ball and failed to move residents into “higher-opportunity areas” outside of the city.

“I dreamed of moving out of Hartford, along with my kids, into a clean apartment where my infant could crawl all over the floor and we wouldn’t have to worry about mold or [electrical] circuits turning up on fire,” one plaintiff told reporters after the class action lawsuit was filed. “But that just turned into a dream.”

The plaintiffs include former residents of North Hartford subsidized housing developments, Clay Arsenal Renaissance Apartments, Barbour Gardens Apartments, and Infill I. According to the complaint, HUD provided Section 8 relocation vouchers to the plaintiffs and other residents after terminating its contracts with the building owners over the living conditions.

The plaintiffs say that they were also entitled to services from the agency to assist them in moving to better neighborhoods; however, they say they were simply relocated to other poor, inner-city housing developments.

Further, the agency allegedly used federal money not to build subsidized housing in higher opportunity areas, but instead to re-subsidize two of the same buildings it had terminated its contracts with in the first place.

“Had HUD embraced its statutory mandate to promote ‘open, integrated residential housing patterns,’ it could have taken any number of measures over the past fifty years to combat segregation in Hartford,” argues the complaint. “But HUD has done none of these things. Instead, HUD has made the problem worse.”

In addition to HUD and director Ben Carson, the class action lawsuit names a housing services company, Imagineers LLC, and the city of Hartford as defendants.

The class action lawsuit is seeking a court order allowing residents to leave their current rental contract under HUD and force the agency to provide relocation assistance, including providing housing in less racially concentrated areas. In addition, the plaintiffs are asking for more oversight of the agency – for a judge to approve any HUD subsidy going to buildings in racially concentrated areas of the city.

According to ABC News, the lawsuit has received support from Connecticut representatives, including U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and U.S. Rep. John Larson.

“HUD has failed the people of the North End of Hartford,” the Senator said in a statement, according to ABC. “HUD also ignored their legal responsibility to break up pockets of poverty. They could have done the right thing, instead thumbed their noses at the law.”

Top Class Actions has put together a guide to racial justice legal issues to help you stay informed.

Have you or your family been affected by HUD policies? Do you think they result in racial segregation? We want to hear your story! Tell us in the comment section below.

The lead plaintiffs and proposed Class Members are represented by Peter M. Haberlandt and Erin Boggs of Open Communities Alliance, J. L. Pottenger, Jr., Shana Hurley, Zoe Masters, and Benjamin Gerig Shelly of the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization of Yale Law School, Thomas Silverstein of Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Lanny A. Breuer, Shankar Duraiswamy, Daniel Suleiman, and James Yoon of Covington & Burling LLP, and Alexander Setzepfandt,Sarah Mac Dougall, and Shira Poliak of Covington & Burling LLP.

The HUD Racial Segregation Class Action Lawsuit is Center for Leadership and Justice, et al. v. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, et al., Case No. 3:20-cv-01728, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

• HUD Gives Florida $326M Boost to Resolve Hurricane Living Expenses, Other Costs
• Hispanic Homeownership Becoming Trickier Due to FHA Mortgage Denials
• Deadline Set for Sex Abuse Victim Claims in Diocese of Buffalo Bankruptcy
• France Moves to Restrict Use of Glyphosate Herbicide