The Mississippi State Conference NAACP, Gulf Coast Fair
Housing Center and several individual residents have filed a lawsuit in Federal
Court in Washington, D.C. against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD). The suit challenges HUDs approval of a plan submitted by the
State to divert $600 million of federal hurricane recovery funds designated for
affordable housing to finance the expansion of the Port of Gulfport.
“It is unfortunate that money earmarked for the recovery
victims of Hurricane Katrina is now being taken away for the purpose of
business development,” said Derrick Johnson, state president of Mississippi
NAACP. “Our suit contends that this is contrary to the primary purpose of the
Congressional appropriation and violates the requirements of the Community
Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.”
Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Congress appropriated
approximately $5.5 billion of the emergency recovery funds to Mississippi in
order to address the critical housing needs in the hurricane damaged area,
specifically affordable housing. Administration of this funding was to be
overseen by HUD under the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program,
which includes requirements that use of these funds conform to the Fair Housing
Act and be used primarily to benefit low and moderate income people.
The suit seeks a declaration by the court that HUD was
required to review and assess the state of Mississippi’s port expansion plan to
determine whether the proposal complied with Fair Housing Act and
low-to-moderate income benefit requirements. Additionally, the suit states that
HUD violated its duties by accepting the port expansion plan without conducting
such a review. It seeks an order from the court prohibiting HUD from releasing
or approving the obligation of any of the nearly $600 million in CDBG funds.
Included
in the complaint are claims that HUD has also approved several waivers of
the requirements, for programs totaling $4 billion that 50 percent
of the funds benefit low and moderate income people, leaving only half of
the remaining $1.4 billion targeted for those persons. As a result,
HUD has authorized Mississippi to drop its commitment to lower-income
households affected by Katrina from 50 percent to 13 percent. In Harrison,
Hancock and Jackson counties, approximately 65 percent of the housing units
exposed to the storm surge and more than 57 percent of the units exposed to
flooding were occupied by households with incomes below the U.S. median
household income level.
“This is in essence creating another disaster; only it’s
man-made. It’s unconscionable that HUD would approve a plan that neglects
tax-paying citizens,” said James Crowell, a member of the NAACP National Board
of Directors, president of the Biloxi branch and a Katrina survivor. “The
return of the $600 million to the housing budget would make it possible for our
friends and neighbors to have somewhere to live. That is why this lawsuit is
important for those of us who are still trying to recover from the impact of
Hurricane Katrina.”
“Through this lawsuit, we intend to enforce HUD’s duty to
ensure there will be housing choice for the thousands of households that
Mississippi does not want to help,” said Reilly Morse, Mississippi Center for
Justice senior attorney. “The diversion of funds intended to rebuild safe,
affordable housing for low-income, elderly and disabled people has shattered
the promise of making affordable housing the priority of this recovery effort.”
Attorneys from Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo, PC
are working in conjunction with the Mississippi Center for Justice and the
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law to represent the plaintiffs pro
bono.
Editor’s note: The Mississippi State Conference of the NAACP
has been active in providing civil rights advocacy for over 62 years with a
mission to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of
rights of all persons and to eliminate hatred and discrimination. For more
information, please visit www.naacpms.org or www.naacp.org.
