[StBernard] Developers asking for intervention on St. Bernard Parish apartments

[Westley Annis]

Developers asking for intervention on St. Bernard Parish apartments
by Chris Kirkham, The Times-Picayune 
Monday August 31, 2009, 11:12 AM
Developers trying to build four mixed-income apartment complexes in St.
Bernard Parish have now asked a federal judge to grant the building permits
necessary to begin construction and place hefty fines on the parish if
officials continue to delay the developments.

Judge Ginger Berrigan ruled that St. Bernard Parish officials violated the
federal Fair Housing Act.The filing by Provident Realty Advisors and the
Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center came after St. Bernard's
Planning Commission last week again denied Provident's request to
resubdivide the four properties, despite an Aug. 17 federal court ruling
that said earlier denials had violated the federal Fair Housing Act.

In the ruling, U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan referred to the denials
as "stall and delay tactics" and said "the Parish and Council's intent in
subverting the re-subdivision application process is and was racially
discriminatory." 

The resubdivision is a procedural step needed for Provident to obtain
building permits. The developers have attended five separate meetings since
April regarding the resubdivision request, and were either denied or told to
come back with more information.


The Aug. 17 ruling was the second time this year that Berrigan ruled St.
Bernard Parish violated the Fair Housing Act.

Provident is now asking that Berrigan order the resubdivision applications
approved and order the parish to grant the developers building permits by
Oct. 1. If the parish doesn't comply, Provident is asking for sanctions of
$5,000 a day after the deadline.

"St. Bernard Parish should not be permitted to act in brazen defiance of
this Court's authority and in continued violation of one of the nation's
most important civil rights laws without consequence," lawyers for Provident
and the Fair Housing Action Center wrote in their filing in U.S. District
Court in New Orleans. "The time has come for severe sanctions and direct
court intervention to protect (the housing center's) and Provident's
rights."

The apartment complexes at issue are financed in part by low-income housing
tax credits, which are federal subsidies given to private developers to
provide affordable housing. Property managers must maintain the units for a
minimum of 15 years and adhere to state and federal inspections or risk
losing the tax credit investments.

Provident says the delays could jeopardize the federal tax credit financing
that is crucial to the developments.

The number of low-income housing tax credit units planned in St. Bernard,
288, is out of a pool more than 12,000 total units financed for the region.
Of that, New Orleans is slated to get nearly 9,000; Jefferson Parish, more
than 2,000; and St. Tammany Parish, nearly 900.