Federal housing agency: Houston housing policies violate Civil Rights Act

Houston's procedures for approving a key form of low-income housing perpetuate segregation and violate the Civil Rights Act, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has found, also concluding that Mayor Sylvester Turner's rejection of a Galleria-area housing project was based on racially motivated opposition from neighborhood residents.

The federal housing agency's findings, detailed in a scathing 14-page letter sent Wednesday, fault the city for "blocking and deterring affordable housing proposals in integrated neighborhoods" and require Houston to implement a series of corrective actions.

Those remedies include: Providing the remaining construction costs for the mixed-income apartment complex at 2640 Fountain View, which Turner blocked in August, or else financing an alternative in a so-called "high opportunity" census tract; developing a formal policy to ensure the placement of tax credit housing does not maintain segregation; helping recipients of housing choice vouchers find homes in low-poverty neighborhoods; and establishing a local fair housing commission to diminish housing segregation.

"The city's refusal to issue a resolution of no objection for Fountain View was motivated either in whole or in part by the race, color, or national origin of the likely tenants," Garry Sweeney, director of HUD's Fort Worth's regional office of fair housing and equal opportunity, wrote in a letter to Turner. "More generally, the department finds that the city's procedures for approving Low-Income Housing Tax Credit applications are influenced by racially motivated opposition to affordable housing and perpetuate segregation."

HUD opened its five-month investigation into potential violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act - which prohibits recipients of federal funding from discriminating based on race, color or national origin - after Turner declined to sign off on the Houston Housing Authority's proposed Fountain View development.

The project would have been the agency's first in a low-poverty, low-crime neighborhood with good schools and access to jobs. However, it sparked fierce community and political opposition.

Turner cited "costs and other concerns" in blocking the 233-unit, $53 million project.

The mayor reiterated those worries Friday and said he is "in strong disagreement" with HUD's conclusions, pledging to use "all available avenues to challenge their findings."

"We are taking a hard look at the letter, but there should be no misunderstanding about my commitment to providing options for low income families. I do not believe that only wealthy areas can provide what our children need," Turner said in a statement. "I have chosen to stay in the neighborhood where I grew up and I will not tell children in similar communities they must live somewhere else. Our underprivileged families should have the right to choose where they want to live, and that choice should include the right to stay in the neighborhoods where they have grown up."

Turner added that the city and the housing authority are set to announce a plan shortly to provide vouchers for up to 350 low-income housing units in neighborhoods with high-performing schools.

The potential political fallout of HUD's findings are somewhat unclear for Turner, a progressive African-American mayor who speaks passionately about the need to mitigate the city's vast inequality.