[StBernard] HUD: La. could lose federal funds unless it makes St. Bernard Parish follow civil rights laws

[Westley Annis]

CHALMETTE, La. - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
threatened on Thursday to cut grants to Louisiana unless the state makes St.
Bernard Parish comply with the Fair Housing Act, the latest turn in a
long-running dispute with the predominantly white New Orleans suburb.

Mercedes M. Marquez, assistant secretary for community planning and
development, wrote that the parish government has acted to keep out
African-Americans by restricting rental housing in spite of numerous federal
court rulings that it has violated the civil rights law, as well as repeated
contempt orders.

"The State remains responsible to assure that St. Bernard Parish complies"
with requirements for community development block grants, Marquez wrote
Louisiana Commissioner of Administration Paul Rainwater. "A determination
that the State has failed to do so could result in a funding sanction
against the State." She did not give a dollar figure.

Making it hard to build apartments or rent houses violates civil rights laws
because African-Americans in the New Orleans metro area are twice as likely
as whites to rent and 85 percent more likely to live in multi-family
buildings, wrote John Trasvina, HUD's assistant secretary for fair housing,
in a separate letter to Parish President Craig Taffaro.

That letter details a dispute that began when St. Bernard Parish halted
apartment construction in late 2005, months after Hurricane Katrina flooded
the entire parish.

Under federal pressure, the parish revoked the ordinance that included that
change and others, including one that let homeowners rent only to blood
relatives. But Trasvina wrote that ordinances enacted since then and
administrative actions continue to violate the Fair Housing Act.

Taffaro could not be reached for comment Thursday.

In a statement late Thursday, Rainwater said: "We have been in discussions
with HUD and with the parish about this issue. The state is committed to
furthering the creation of safe, affordable housing. We look forward to
working with HUD and the parish to find common ground that will allow us to
move forward in our recovery."

Trasvina's letter to Taffaro said the parish can avoid sanctions by
overturning, within 20 days, a 2007 ordinance that severely limits
homeowners' ability to rent and a zoning ordinance passed in January 2010 to
forbid multifamily housing in much of the parish.

Parish councilmen introduced two repeal ordinances in March, but the repeals
cannot occur until April 5.

The parish also must resolve eight administrative complaints, Trasvina
wrote.

"The Parish has expressed an interest in resolving HUD's concerns," he
wrote. "Nevertheless, a mere stated interest" is not enough.