Houston asks HUD to drop housing discrimination case

Mayor Sylvester Turner expressed optimism Monday about city efforts to resolve a federal finding that Houston housing policies violate the Civil Rights Act, saying U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson told him last month he "is very pleased with the direction in which we are going."

HUD has not formally responded to the city's request for the agency to withdraw its January letter faulting Houston for perpetuating housing segregation.

Turner, however, characterized his half-hour meeting with Carson two weeks ago in Washington, D.C., as "positive and productive."

HUD concluded earlier this year that Turner's recent rejection of a proposal to build subsidized housing near the Galleria was discriminatory and violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits recipients of federal funding from discriminating based on race, color or national origin. The agency also said Houston's process for reviewing applications for a key form of low-income housing maintains segregation.

Rather than pursuing corrective actions mandated by HUD, the city asked the agency in February to withdraw its finding, according to a letter obtained by the Houston Chronicle.

"Contrary to its unsupported and misleading statement of facts, there is no evidence that Mayor Turner took any action that was discriminatory, had a discriminatory effect, or that was inconsistent with affirmatively furthering fair housing," City Attorney Ronald Lewis wrote on Feb. 24. "Houston denies that it discriminated against any Houstonian based on race or national origin or that its procedures for approving Low-Income Housing Tax Credit developments reinforces and perpetuates existing patterns of discrimination."

HUD has not responded to the city's letter, and agency officials declined to comment on Turner's account of his conversation with Carson.

Sara Pratt, a D.C.-based attorney who oversaw HUD's Title VI enforcement and compliance program for more than a decade, said she never has seen the agency withdraw a Title VI determination.

"We fully expect that this administration will follow existing procedures and regulations and conduct enforcement activities," Pratt said. "I would expect a voluntary compliance agreement to be sent by HUD to the city in the not-too-distant future."

'High-opportunity' area

Despite the Houston area's reputation for low-cost living, housing affordability has become an increasingly acute concern here over the last two decades.

As of 2013, roughly 400,000 low-income Harris County families were spending more than 30 percent of their earnings on housing, according to the most recent federal data, up from 250,000 in 2000.

Tracking of affordable housing options is inconsistent, but a 2015 city report determined Houston was home to just 78,000 subsidized units.

Those homes are concentrated in lower-income, minority neighborhoods.

The Galleria-area project at 2640 Fountain View would have been the Houston Housing Authority's first in a so-called "high-opportunity" area, which research shows gives children a better chance of upward mobility.

Turner cited "costs and other concerns" in blocking the 233-unit, $60 million project last August, a justification the city reiterated in its letter to HUD.

"There is no direct or circumstantial evidence that Mayor Turner acted with the intent to discriminate against the very class of people for which he has dedicated his entire career in government to serving," Lewis wrote. "The evidence HUD should have considered establishes that Houston's proffered alternatives to the Fountain View met fair housing standards; the historical background and sequence of events leading up to the mayor's decision do not support an inference of discrimination; and the costs for the proposed Fountain View (project) warranted second consideration by the new administration."

Plan targets five areas

Planning for Fountain View began under former Mayor Annise Parker.

As for the city's procedures for reviewing tax credit applications, Lewis said Houston "does not have an established pattern of failing to site or support affordable housing projects in predominantly white neighborhoods."

HUD said in a January letter that between 2012 and early last year, 85 percent of the tax credit proposals the city's housing department recommended for approval were for sites located in majority-minority census tracts.

Lewis cited Houston's approval of six applications in the last two years for tax credit housing in predominantly white neighborhoods.

The city attorney also said the eight remedies HUD requested in January are unnecessary because the city "has implemented or already had plans to implement actions similar to those proposed by HUD."

Among other efforts, Lewis pointed to two initiatives city officials have discussed at length but have yet to formally unveil: Complete Communities and a voucher mobility program.

Complete Communities, which the mayor plans to publicly announce next Monday, aims to "strengthen areas of our city that have been historically under-resourced and improve the quality of life for people who live there," according to an internal memo.

The city plans to target five neighborhoods — Acres Homes, Gulfton, Second Ward, the Near Northside and Third Ward — and intends for the program to be interdisciplinary, touching on issues from housing to grocery options to transportation.

Help for 350 families

Houston's response letter to HUD, meanwhile, details its plan to help 350 families with a housing voucher and children in kindergarten through third grade move into low-poverty neighborhoods zoned to high-performing elementary schools by the end of 2018.

City Housing Director Tom McCasland said he hopes to begin working with clients next May. The program will be run through the nonprofit NextQuest Houston and funded by a $1 million grant from the Houston Endowment.

"For many of these areas with quality schools, 95-98 percent of the apartments zoned to those schools will not accept the vouchers, not through any fault of the tenants, but simply because they're coming with a housing choice voucher," McCasland said.

Texas law allows landlords to refuse to rent a home to those receiving federal housing assistance.

Local fair housing advocate Daniel Bustamante was enthusiastic about the mobility program but said he would need to see the details of Turner's Complete Communities plan before assessing it.

As for HUD, Bustamante called for continued enforcement of civil rights laws.

"I'm hopeful that HUD will continue to do what it's historically done," he said.

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Housing Affordable housing Fair Housing Act Ben Carson HUD
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