Ledesma v. Urban Renewal Agcy. of City of Edinburg, Civ. A. No. 75-B-65.

• Decision Date: 24 May 1977
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 75-B-65.
• Citation: 432 F. Supp. 564
• Parties: Jose LEDESMA and wife, Victoria Ledesma, Plaintiffs, v. URBAN RENEWAL AGENCY OF the CITY OF EDINBURG, TEXAS, and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Texas

432 F. Supp. 564

Jose LEDESMA and wife, Victoria Ledesma, Plaintiffs, v. URBAN RENEWAL AGENCY OF the CITY OF EDINBURG, TEXAS, and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 75-B-65.

United States District Court, S. D. Texas, Brownsville Division.

May 24, 1977.

Ramon Garcia, Edinburg, Tex., Larry Watts, Houston, Tex., for plaintiffs.

Preston E. Henrichson, Edinburg, Tex., for Urban Renewal Agency.

Helen M. Eversberg, Asst. U. S. Atty., Houston, Tex., for HUD.

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

DANIEL HOLCOMBE THOMAS, Senior District Judge, Sitting by Designation.

The above-styled cause was heard by the Court without a jury and taken under submission on March 1, 1977. The Court, after examining the pleadings and the evidence presented at the trial, enters the following Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. The plaintiffs, Mr. and Mrs. Ledesma, have filed this action against the Urban Renewal Agency and the Department of Housing and Urban Development seeking a declaratory judgment that the denial of a relocation housing assistance payment was unconstitutional and in violation of the laws of the United States, and declaring that the plaintiffs are entitled to such payment in an amount which was stipulated by the parties to be $6,221.00 less the rent owed to the defendants by the plaintiffs.

2. The Urban Renewal Agency's representative mailed an offer to acquire the Ledesmas' property at 1024 East Puebla, Edinburg, Texas, on August 7, 1972, to the plaintiffs. On March 21, 1974, the Agency acquired the property. The Ledesmas claim that shortly after they built the house on the property in question, Mr. Ledesma could not find employment in Edinburg sufficient to sustain living expenses and pay for the house. They moved to Frisco, Texas, where Mr. Ledesma found work and rented a house. The Ledesmas always intended to return to their Puebla Street home as soon as they could financially afford to do so. The Urban Renewal Agency recommended that the plaintiffs' claim for a relocation assistance payment be granted, but on review, the Area Office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development denied the claim on the ground that the Ledesmas had not occupied the property for the required 180 days before initiation of negotiations to acquire it, and that the "constructive occupancy" exception did not apply to them. The Court finds that there is an actual controversy between the parties within the meaning of 28 U.S.C. § 2201. The plaintiffs, having exhausted their administrative remedies, filed this action. Because no record of the proceedings or findings of the administrative bodies below was available, a full evidentiary hearing was necessary.

3. The plaintiffs are a married couple and are the parents of six children. In 1955, the plaintiffs, who were living with Mr. Ledesma's mother, purchased two lots across the street from his mother's home. These lots are the subject property herein and are identified for the purposes of this cause as 1024 E. Puebla Street. In 1967 plaintiffs borrowed money from the Harlingen National Bank and constructed a home on the property.

4. Jose Ledesma's sixth grade education and limited skills, coupled with the agricultural employment market, limited his income to an amount that made it difficult for him to feed his family and impossible for him to pay for his new home. Mr. Ledesma was forced to relocate temporarily in a better job market in the area surrounding the urban center of Dallas, Texas. Plaintiffs had been employed as migrant farm labor and were able to locate a steady source of jobs and income in the Central Texas area, several hundred miles away from their home and Mr. Ledesma's mother in Edinburg. Mr. Ledesma took employment in the Frisco, Texas, area as a truck driver and cotton picker. The plaintiffs intended to work in the more lucrative job market until they were able to finish paying for their home at 1024 E. Puebla in Edinburg. They had also by this time refinanced the loan to provide for extended time payments at $65.00 per month.

5. Even though the plaintiffs rented a house, enrolled their children in school and maintained a checking account in Frisco, they continued to treat their house on Puebla Street as their home. Their stay in Frisco was necessitated by their desire to pay for and retain the home they had built across the street from Mr. Ledesma's mother.

6. During the time the plaintiffs were in Frisco, they only rented a house there, they retained sole control of the house they owned in Edinburg, and allowed no other person to either stay briefly or live there under the guise of any agreement. Plaintiffs even provided for regular yard and garden maintenance by employing Mr. Juan Garcia on a year-round basis. Plaintiffs also returned to their home during the school year for weekend visits and returned each summer for extended stays. Plaintiffs always considered the Puebla Street house their home and left it only in order to earn sufficient money to keep the payments up. Their furniture and household goods remained at the Puebla Street house.

7. The eligibility of the plaintiffs for the contested relocation assistance grant was supported and approved by the Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Edinburg, based upon the extensive investigation of that Agency's officers, up to the time the San Antonio office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development altered the recommendation of the local Agency, and denied the payment, based on the 180 day occupancy requirement.

8. For the purpose of establishing the 180 day occupancy period, negotiations for the acquisition of the property were initiated on August 9, 1972, by letter addressed to the plaintiff, Jose Ledesma, General Delivery, Frisco, Texas, from Phil Jordan, Executive Director of the Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Edinburg. On March 13, 1973, Jordan requested payment to the plaintiffs from Finis E. Jolly, Director, HUD Area Office of the contested grant, but on review that office denied the grant.

9. The Court finds that Mr. and Mrs. Ledesma were the owners of the subject property for 180 days prior to the initiation of negotiations by the Agency to acquire the property, but did not physically occupy the property during the 180 days immediately preceding the initiation of negotiations. The denial of relocation benefits was based on the Department's finding that the "constructive occupancy" exception did not apply to the plaintiffs. However, based on the facts set out above, the Court finds that the Department's decision in this respect was not based on substantial evidence, and as will be explained below, was in contravention of the purpose of the statute which this exception was designed to further.

10. The contested payment was stipulated to be in the amount of $6,221.00. The rent owed the defendants by the plaintiffs was...