Inclusive Communities Project v. Texas Dept. of Housing and

Community Affairs, 2010 WL 3766714 (N.D. Tex. 2010)

ICP filed suit against Texas’ state housing finance agency for perpetuating racial segregation in Dallas and other large urban areas through their administration of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. ICP alleges that the defendant has disproportionately approved tax credits for low-income housing in minority neighborhoods and has denied applications for non-elderly low-income housing in predominately Caucasian neighborhoods; that 92% percent of all LIHTC units in the city of Dallas are in census tracts where more than one-half of the population is minority. Upon review of the Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss and ICP’s Brief in Opposition, the U.S. District Court issued a Memorandum Opinion and Order denying the Motion to Dismiss, allowing the case to go forward. The parties filed subsequent motions, and on September 28, 2010 the Court issued its Memorandum Opinion and Order granting ICP’s Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, denying Defendants’ Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings, denying Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment, and denying as moot ICP’s Motion for Leave to file Supplemental Appendix. The court found that ICP established prima facie case of discriminatory impact under the FHA, and that the defendants did not conclusively establish that its actions furthered a compelling government interest, or that TDHCA cannot comply with § 42 in a way that has less discriminatory impact on the community. Trial is scheduled for June, 2011.

• • Complaint

• • Summary Judgment opinion

• • Decision in Texas LIHTC case (March 2012)

• • Inclusive Communities Project v. Texas Dep’t of Hous. & Cmty. Affairs, 860 F. Supp. 2d 312 (N.D. Tex. 2012).

• • • Finding in favor of Plaintiff on disparate impact claims under the Fair Housing Act. Defendant failed to prove that allocating tax credits in a nondiscriminatory and nonsegregative manner would impair its interests.

• • Inclusive Communities Project v. Texas Dep’t of Hous. & Cmty. Affairs, 747 F.3d 275 (5th Cir. 2014) cert. granted in part.

• • • Ruling on Defendant’s appeal from District Court finding of discriminatory impact and awarding of attorney’s fees – reversed and remanded.

• ICP v. Texas is scheduled for oral argument in the U.S. Supreme Court the week of February 16, 2015

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