City of Hartford v. Hills, Civ. No. H-75-258.

• Decision Date: 28 January 1976
• Docket Number: Civ. No. H-75-258.
• Citation: 408 F. Supp. 889
• Parties: CITY OF HARTFORD et al. v. Carla A. HILLS et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut

408 F. Supp. 889

CITY OF HARTFORD et al. v. Carla A. HILLS et al.

Civ. No. H-75-258.

United States District Court, D. Connecticut.

January 28, 1976.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Barry S. Zitser, Corp. Counsel, Hartford, Conn., Mary R. Hennessey, Connecticut Justice Commission, Hartford, Conn., Richard Bellman, Suburban Action Institute, New York, N. Y., for plaintiffs.

Peter C. Dorsey, U. S. Atty., Marjorie Wilhelm, Asst. U. S. Atty., New Haven, Conn., David Epstein, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C., Anthony C. Ward, Windsor Locks, Conn., Walter A. Twachtman, Jr., Rocky Hill, Conn., John D. Adams, Enfield, Conn., Philip R. Dunn, John J. Langenbach, Corp. Counsel, West Hartford, Conn., Martin B. Burke, Vernon, Conn., F. Timothy McNamara, Hartford, Conn., Lloyd Frauenglass, Bradley B. Bates, Palmer S. McGee, Jr., Thomas J. Groark, Jr., Francis Morrison, Day, Berry & Howard, Hartford, Conn., for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

BLUMENFELD, District Judge.

I.

This case is the culmination of a confrontation between the City of Hartford and seven of its suburban towns. At issue is the propriety of the decision by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to approve federal community development grants to these towns. The plaintiffs contend that this approval was improper, because of the emphasis in the applications on non-housing expenditures, and upon local rather than regional needs.¹

The plaintiffs are the City of Hartford, Connecticut; eight city officials;² and two representatives of a class consisting of minority, as well as low and moderate income, persons now living "in deteriorating, inadequate, or overly-costly housing in the City of Hartford, Connecticut."³ The plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief against the seven towns,⁴ the Secretary and other officials⁵ of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department itself. The plaintiffs claim that the defendant officials have failed to live up to their obligations under Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974,⁶ Title VIII (Fair Housing) of the Civil Rights Act of 1968,⁷ and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.⁸ They also assert constitutional claims under the civil rights statutes⁹ and the fifth amendment.

Specifically, the plaintiffs claim that the federal defendants abused their discretion in that they approved applications for community development funds under the 1974 Act although the statutory review standards mandated that the applications be disapproved. Similarly, they claim that HUD contravened Title VIII of the 1968 Act by failing to "affirmatively administer" the community development program in order to expand low and moderate income housing opportunities in Hartford's suburbs. Finally, they allege that HUD violated Title VI of the 1964 Act by approving these community development grant applications "in the face of a history by these applicant communities of discriminatory housing, zoning, and land use practices. . . ."¹⁰

A hearing was held on the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction, and the defendants' motion to dismiss or in the alternative for summary judgment. Shortly thereafter the defendants were preliminarily enjoined from "spending in any fashion" the funds at issue in this case. Later that order was modified to permit the release of urgently needed funds, most of which were expended for housing-related purposes. At the hearing on the modification request all parties agreed that final judgment could be entered on the basis of the record as it had been developed up to that point, and as it would be supplemented by several affidavits. All of those affidavits have now been filed, and the case is before me for a decision on the merits.¹¹

II.

Jurisdiction is present under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 since the grants which are the subject of this controversy total well over $10,000. Jurisdiction is also present under the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. § 701 et seq. Evans v. Lynn, No. 74-1793 (2d Cir. June 2, 1975) (Gurfein, J., concurring), rehearing en banc granted August 11, 1975. A class action is not necessary in this case, since full injunctive and/or declaratory relief awarded on behalf of the named plaintiffs will also benefit their class. 3B Moore's Federal Practice, § 23.40 (Supp.1974). Furthermore, the definition of the class is not sufficiently detailed to warrant certification. Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 494-95 n. 5, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975).

III.

The plaintiffs are faced, at the threshold, with a challenge to their standing to bring this action. The defendants argue that all of the plaintiffs lack standing, and ask that the complaint be dismissed for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. I decline to accept that invitation, because I find that several of the plaintiffs do, in fact, possess standing to bring this action.

The issue of the standing of the City of Hartford has already been addressed twice by this court, and both times I have ruled that the City does have standing to sue.¹² It may be helpful, however, to recount briefly the basis upon which that conclusion was reached.

The Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 speaks directly to the problems confronting our urban areas. The initial clauses of the statute read:

"(a) The Congress finds and declares that the Nation's cities, towns, and smaller urban communities face critical social, economic, and environmental problems arising in significant measure from —

(1) the growth of population in metropolitan and other urban areas, and the concentration of persons of lower income in central cities; and

(2) inadequate public and private investment and reinvestment in housing and other physical facilities, and related public and social services, resulting in the growth and persistence of urban slums and blight and the marked deterioration of the quality of the urban environment.

"(b) The Congress further finds and declares that the future welfare of the Nation and the well-being of its citizens depend on the establishment and maintenance of viable urban communities as social, economic, and political entities . . ..

"(c) The primary objective of this chapter is the development of viable urban communities, by providing decent housing and a suitable living environment and expanding economic opportunities, principally for persons of low and moderate income."¹³

The plaintiffs have filed a number of affidavits detailing the problems facing the City of Hartford.¹⁴ The figures contained therein have not been challenged by the defendants. Thus, there can be no doubt that the statute was intended to ameliorate the problems facing the City of Hartford. The plaintiffs' allegations, and the statutory language, make it clear that the City falls within the "zone of interests" created by the Act. Cf. Association of Data Processing Service Organizations, Inc. v. Camp, 397 U.S. 150, 90 S.Ct. 827, 25 L.Ed.2d 184 (1970).

Similarly, the statute itself demonstrates that the second prong of the standing test — the "injury-in-fact" requirement — is met here. The statute explicitly provides for the reallocation of funds from grants which are disapproved, "first, in any metropolitan area in the same State . . .." 42 U.S.C. § 5306(e) (1975 Supp.). Thus, if the plaintiffs are successful in their effort to overturn HUD's approval of these grant applications, and if the funds at issue are made available for reallocation, Hartford will be eligible to receive them, and will have a strong statutory priority. This priority is strengthened by the current HUD Regulations. As I noted in my decision modifying the preliminary injunction previously entered in this case,¹⁵ one regulation in particular, 24 C.F.R. § 570.409(f)(1)(i); 40 Fed.Reg. 42347, 42349 (September 12, 1975), requires that such reallocation funds be disbursed with first priority going to "the same metropolitan area." Thus, the City of Hartford has clearly suffered a judicially cognizable injury, sufficient to confer standing to sue, if the grant applications were approved in a manner contrary to law. It certainly stands to benefit in a tangible way from this court's intervention, thereby meeting the Supreme Court's most recent formulation of the "injury-in-fact" requirement. Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 508, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 2210, 45 L.Ed.2d 343, 360 (1975).

The defendants' challenge to the standing of the city officials and the individual plaintiffs presents other problems. The members of the Court of Common Council sue only in their official capacities. Their claim of standing depends upon their alleged inability to perform their official duties and responsibilities because of the federal government's improper approval of the grant applications.¹⁶ They point out that they have taken an oath to uphold the United States Constitution, and that they challenge HUD's approval on constitutional as well as statutory grounds. From this they conclude that they should be recognized as having standing to sue, citing Board of Education of Central School District No. 1 v. Allen, 392 U.S. 236, 88 S.Ct. 1923, 20 L.Ed.2d 1060 (1968). However, Allen involved constitutional issues, specifically, a constitutional challenge to a state law. The plaintiff officials were torn between their duty to implement the state law and their duty to uphold the federal constitution.¹⁷ Here, by contrast, the city officials are not challenging any allegedly unconstitutional duties placed upon them. Rather, they seek to overturn the actions of the defendant HUD officials, based, in part, on a constitutional challenge. Allen does not stand for the proposition that anyone who has once taken, or is currently bound by, an oath to uphold the federal constitution has standing to challenge actions of third parties simply because they are similarly bound. These city officials have no cognizable legal interest in the outcome of this...