[StBernard] St. Bernard Parish to pay an additional $123K in lawsuit settlement

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Mon Jul 14 22:05:50 EDT 2008


St. Bernard Parish to pay an additional $123K in lawsuit settlement
July 14, 2008


St. Bernard Parish must pay $123,771.92 in fees and costs to attorneys
representing the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center (GNOFHAC)
and an individual plaintiff pursuant to a court order issued in Greater New
Orleans Fair Housing Action Center v. St. Bernard Parish et al, Case No.
06-7185, United States District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana. The
fees and costs are in addition to the $32,500 previously paid by the Parish
as part a Consent Order in settlement of the claim for damages. This brings
the total payout by the Parish up to a total of $152,271.92.

The lawsuit was filed in November 2006 and asked the federal court to enjoin
St. Bernard Parish from enforcing an ordinance barring single-family
homeowners from renting to anyone except blood relatives without the special
permission of the Parish Council. GNOFHAC alleged that the ordinance
disproportionately excluded minority families seeking housing, and
perpetuated the parish's history as a segregated, predominantly white
community.

The Fair Housing Act, as amended (The Act), expressly prohibits
discrimination in the rental or sale of a dwelling on the basis of race,
color, religion, sex, familial status, disability or national origin. 42
U.S.C. § 3604 (a). The Act has been interpreted to prohibit municipalities
from using their zoning powers in a manner that excludes housing for a group
of people on the basis of one of the enumerated classifications. The Act is
violated even when seemingly neutral zoning policies have a discriminatory
effect on a particular protected class and cause harm to a community through
the perpetuation of segregation. As such, the ordinance is likely illegal
discrimination.

James Perry, GNOFHAC executive director, comments, "We hope that the result
of this lawsuit sends a strong message to local governments that choose to
enact discriminatory zoning ordinances. GNOFHAC is dedicated to achieving
the mission of ensuring equal housing opportunities for all members of our
community. Governmental efforts to exclude protected class members,
intentional or not, will be challenged."

The Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center (GNOFHAC) is a private
non-profit organization. The Center was established by a group of concerned
New Orleanians in 1995 with the help of the National Fair Housing Alliance
and a grant from the United States Department of Housing and Urban
Development. GNOFHAC is dedicated to eliminating housing discrimination and
furthering equal housing opportunities through education, outreach,
advocacy, and enforcement of fair housing laws across the metro New Orleans
and Baton Rouge areas. The litigation described in this release was pursued
exclusively using private funds. This is independent agency based
litigation. It is not funded with Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP)
funds or sponsored/ authorized by the Office of Fair Housing and Equal
Opportunity.



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