Croskey Street Concerned Citizens v. Romney, Civ. A. No. 71-2502.
| Decision Date | 08 December 1971 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 71-2502. |
| Citation | 335 F. Supp. 1251 |
| Parties | CROSKEY STREET CONCERNED CITIZENS, Lyra Fortune, on her own behalf and on behalf of others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. George ROMNEY, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
Lawyers' Committee For Civil Rights Under Law, Edwin D. Wolf, Philadelphia, Pa., for plaintiffs.
Louis C. Bechtle, U. S. Atty., Merna B. Marshall, Asst. U. S. Atty., Philadelphia, Pa., for defendants George Romney, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Theodore Robb, Regional Administrator, Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, Vincent A. Marino, Asst. Regional Administrator, Dept. of Housing & Urban Development, and United States Dept. of Housing & Urban Development.
Arthur Littleton, Mark S. Dichter, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Philadelphia, Pa., for defendant Tollin-Graboyes Co.
Robert J. Sugarman, Dechert, Price & Rhoads, Philadelphia, Pa., for Resident Advisory Board of Philadelphia, intervenor.
Plaintiffs filed this class action to enjoin the construction of a low rent housing project for the elderly in the 1700 block of North Croskey Street, Philadelphia, Pa. (herein referred to as "Project") and for other relief. Plaintiffs are residents of the area in which the Project is to be constructed. The individual defendants are those federal officials of the Department of Housing and Urban Development ("HUD") responsible for implementing the national housing policy. The Philadelphia Housing Authority ("PHA"), the local agency which proposed the Project, Tollin-Graboyes Company, the construction company under contract with PHA to build the Project, and HUD are also named as defendants.
In their complaint, plaintiffs allege that HUD failed to apply the proper site selection standards concerning the impact of the Project on racial concentration as required by the Civil Rights Acts of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000a et seq., and of 1968, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq. Plaintiffs claim that the Project will increase the racial concentration of the area which is over 95% black and thereby cause irreparable harm to plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also allege that PHA and HUD have concentrated low rent housing projects in predominantly black areas of Philadelphia thereby maintaining or increasing the existing pattern of racial segregation in housing in the city and that the Project will reinforce this pattern. Plaintiffs initially seek a preliminary injunction against construction of the Project. We have jurisdiction over the parties and jurisdiction of the subject matter under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1343 and 1361.
The Resident Advisory Board of Philadelphia has petitioned to intervene as plaintiff in order to represent the interests of all present and potential public housing tenants in Philadelphia. We will grant the motion. Intervenor does not join with plaintiff in seeking to enjoin the construction of the Project but does seek declaratory and injunctive relief to promote construction of public housing by PHA and HUD in all areas of Metropolitan Philadelphia.
A hearing on the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction was held on November 8-11, 1971. The motions for declaratory and injunctive relief concerning the overall effect of site selection policies of HUD and PHA on the racial concentration of public housing in Philadelphia were not considered at this hearing.
The Croskey Street Project is part of a package of five low rent elderly housing projects which were proposed in July, 1969 by PHA to HUD for federal funding. In accordance with regulations issued by HUD in compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, HUD will not approve housing located in areas of racial concentration, i. e., concentration of minority groups, "unless alternative or additional sites in other areas provide a balanced distribution of the proposed housing" (herein referred to as "balanced program requirements"). 24 C.F.R. § 1.4(b) (2) (i); HUD Low Rent Housing Preconstruction Handbook, RHA § 7410. Since July, 1969, the proposed package of elderly projects has been revised in order to comply with HUD's balanced program requirement, and the present package includes the following sites:
Throughout the review of this package, HUD officials have conditioned approval of the black sites on the submission of an acceptable development program for Washington Square West, the balancing white site. However, HUD recognizes that the local housing authority cannot develop and submit plans for each of the sites in a package simultaneously nor is HUD necessarily able to fund all of these projects simultaneously. Therefore, HUD does not require that all projects in a package be commenced or completed at the same time as long as HUD has "clear and convincing evidence" that the local housing authority intends to comply with the balanced program requirement.
PHA has not submitted a development program for Washington Square West because of pending litigation concerning designation of a project area committee for the Washington Square West Urban Renewal Area. Washington Square West Project Area Committee, et al. v. H.U.D., Civ. No. 69-2972 (E.D. Pa.). However, HUD has permitted the first three black sites in the package to proceed before a development program has been submitted because HUD concluded that it had clear and convincing evidence that the project would be built. HUD based this conclusion on the assurance of PHA that the City of Philadelphia remains fully committed to build low income housing in the area, the nature of the pending litigation, the designation of a developer for Washington Square West, the approval by City Council of 400 units of low and low-moderate income housing in Washington Square West and the stated policy of HUD to cut off all future housing money for Philadelphia if a balancing site for the package is not built.
On the basis of the above evidence, HUD gave final approval to 50th and Haverford and 22nd and Venango in early 1970 (both of these projects are near completion) and to Croskey Street in June, 1971. Approval of 52nd and Poplar was denied in April, 1971 because of uncertainty at that time concerning the status of Washington Square West, but HUD officials testified that they subsequently were satisfied that Washington Square West would go forward and they would therefore approve 52nd and Poplar if and when PHA submits the necessary documents to HUD.
In Shannon v. United States Dept. of H.U.D., 436 F.2d 809 (C.A.3, 1970), this Circuit held that while the Civil Rights Act of 1964 directed HUD to insure that its programs were nondiscriminatory in their effect, the Civil Rights Act of 1968 extended HUD's responsibilities by requiring that HUD act affirmatively to achieve fair housing. The court recognized that "undue concentration of persons of a given race, or socio-economic group, in a given neighborhood" can foster racial discrimination in violation of both the 1964 and 1968 Civil Rights Acts.
"* * * Increase or maintenance of racial concentration is prima facie likely to lead to urban blight and is thus prima facie at variance with the national housing policy." Shannon v. United States Dept. of H.U.D., supra, 436 F.2d at 821.
The court therefore held that HUD is required to use some institutionalized method of gathering relevant racial and socioeconomic information so that it can make an informed decision concerning the impact of site selection on racial concentration in compliance with its duties to prevent discrimination under the 1964 Act and to affirmatively promote fair housing under the 1968 Act. In addition, the court suggested considerations it felt were relevant to a proper determination by HUD.
In order to determine whether the plaintiffs are entitled to a preliminary injunction against construction of the Project, we must answer the following questions:
In Shannon, the evidence established that HUD did not consider the effect of the proposed program on the racial concentration of the area at all. In the present case, the fact that the Project was approved in accordance with HUD's balanced program requirement indicates that racial factors were considered to some extent. We must therefore inquire whether HUD adequately considered the impact of site selection on racial concentration in deciding to approve the Project so that the decision complied with the Shannon requirements.
The history of the approval of the Project indicates that two separate reviews of the site selection were made. The first review was made in June, 1970 and relied primarily on a Preliminary Site Report prepared by the HUD staff. The second review was made between January and July, 1971 in response to objections raised by the plaintiffs in this case, and the site was again approved in July, 1971 on the basis of a report from PHA and a Preliminary Environmental Clearance Worksheet prepared by HUD.
The Preliminary Site Report form requires HUD to compile the following information for each site selected of low-rent public housing:
...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
CLIENTS'COUNCIL v. Pierce, 79-4086.
...Otero v. New York City Housing Authority, 484 F.2d 1122, 1134 (2d Cir. 1973); Shannon, supra, 436 F.2d at 822. See also Croskey v. Romney, 335 F.Supp. 1251 (E.D.Pa.), aff'd, 459 F.2d 109 (3d Cir. 1971). A distinction should thus be drawn between instances where a court finds that HUD has kn......
-
Jones v. Tully, 73 C 1104.
...approval of a housing project in a predominantly black neighborhood, as it did in this case. See Croskey Street Concerned Citizens v. Romney, 335 F.Supp. 1251 (E.D.Pa.), aff'd, 459 F.2d 109 (3d Cir. 1971). Thus low-income housing and racial concentration at a particular site are not mutuall......
-
American Waterways Operators, Inc. v. Askew
... ... No. 71-156-Civ.-J ... United States District Court, M. D ... ...
-
Croskey Street Concerned Citizens v. Romney, 71-2129.
...Judges. OPINION OF THE COURT McLAUGHLIN, Circuit Judge. In this appeal the sole question now before us is whether the district court, 335 F.Supp. 1251, abused its discretion in refusing to issue a preliminary injunction against the defendants from proceeding with the construction of the Cro......