ATLANTA – The U.S. Supreme Court ruling on June 25, 2015 in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project that upheld the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and allows certain discrimination claims will help efforts to improve the quality of life for low-income and minority residents subject to concentrated poverty, a Georgia State University expert said.
The issue in the case centered around whether the law allowed for “disparate impact” claims, which are allegations that laws or practices are discriminatory, even if the laws or practices were not based on discrimination.
“The Supreme Court upheld the recognition of these claims, enabling plaintiffs to seek relief not only when he or she is able to prove intentional discrimination, but also when the plaintiffs can show that this policy has adversely affected minorities at higher rates than non-minorities,” said Courtney Anderson, assistant professor at Georgia State University’s College of Law.
Anderson, a member of the college’s Center for Law, Health and Society, has represented low-income tenant associations in purchasing and rehabilitating multifamily housing, and researches affordable housing and health.
The case affected the allocation of Low Income Housing Tax Credits, a popular and effective method of creating and maintaining affordable housing in the U.S.
In the past, under traditional low-income housing developments, many minority and low-income individuals were disproportionately concentrated in areas where good schools, employment and green space were at a minimum, Anderson said, while pollution, traffic and vacant buildings are higher.
“When the Supreme Court found that the Texas Department of Housing and Community affairs perpetuated segregation by placing too few structures in non-minority neighborhoods outside of inner cities,” she explained, “the Court tied the responsibility of the government to affirmatively further fair housing that provides equal opportunity and quality of life for minority residents.”
In Atlanta, the city is divided into Neighborhood Planning Units (NPUs), designed by the late former Mayor Maynard Jackson to give citizens a voice and part in development and planning in their communities.
The Supreme Court decision will help individuals in low-income neighborhoods in Atlanta’s NPUs, and in similar situations across the country, fully reap the benefits of citizen-participation planning and development platforms, Anderson said.
“The decision will help with prohibiting the continued concentration of low-income housing in these underserved areas,” she explained. “It will permit people residing in affordable housing developments to live in NPUs that provide a more immediate, and impactful change, to their environment.”
Anderson holds an LL.M. from Georgetown University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, along with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pittsburgh.
For more about Anderson and a link to her research, visit http://law.gsu.edu/profile/courtney-anderson/.
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