[StBernard] HUD secretary says pattern of discrimination in St. Bernard Parish is egregious

[Westley Annis]

HUD secretary says pattern of discrimination in St. Bernard Parish is
egregious
MARY FOSTER  Associated Press
First Posted: May 07, 2011 - 6:06 pm

NEW ORLEANS - U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan
says that while St. Bernard Parish settled two issues that limited
African-Americans' freedom to choose where they will live, the parish is
still trying to block multi-unit housing and residents' freedom to rent to
anyone they want.

Speaking to graduates at predominantly black Southern University-New
Orleans, Donovan on Saturday took the opportunity to address his
department's battle with St. Bernard over its efforts to limit available
apartments in the New Orleans suburb.

Donovan said that although the parish has knocked down two discriminatory
ordinances under pressure from HUD, the pattern of discrimination in St.
Bernard is still egregious.

"Although they have agreed to allow multi-family housing to be built,"
Donovan said, "they continue to find ways to stand in the way of that
construction."

St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro Jr. could not be immediately
reached for comment.

A federal judge has ruled that parish zoning laws enacted after Hurricane
Katrina discriminated against blacks by restricting multi-family housing.

U.S. District Judge Helen Berrigan said parish officials had a racially
discriminatory intent in trying to block Provident Realty Advisors Inc.'s
proposal to build 288 units of mixed-income housing in the predominantly
white parish. She heard testimony that black families are twice as likely as
white families to live in rental housing in greater New Orleans.

The ruling followed a suit by the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action
Center over a 2008 moratorium on building structures with more than five
units. The group said the action was designed to keep blacks from moving
there after Katrina. The center also sued the parish over a post-Katrina
ordinance that barred residents from renting single-family homes to anyone
other than a blood relative. The parish agreed in February 2008 to repeal
that ordinance, but Donovan said it showed what lawmakers there were trying
to do.

"In a (parish) where 93 percent of the residents are white," Donovan said on
Saturday. "We believe the clear intent was to discriminate."

A Department of Justice investigation is under way in response to eight
complaints from people who claim there are still restrictions on who they
can rent to.

Donovan said HUD is working closely with the Justice Department to
investigate practices in the parish, and if warranted, the government may
pursue criminal charges as well as civil violations.

The secretary also renewed his threat to cut grants to Louisiana unless the
state makes St. Bernard Parish comply with the Fair Housing Act. He
dismissed criticism that HUD was indulging in social engineering with
efforts to move the parish into compliance.

"To say that only certain people can live here, to stand in the way of
Americans choosing where to live, that's social engineering," he said. .