I read with interest Dan Rodricks' conversation with Kim from Pasadena about her concern with placing low-income housing in her neighborhood ("Let's help the poor, but not close to home," Feb. 3). Mr. Rodricks comments that the decision by the Anne Arundel County Council to "reject a proposal for an 84-unit 'workforce' development on Ritchie Highway in Pasadena … sounds like a federal discrimination lawsuit waiting to happen." Actually, it has already happened. On Jan. 21, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project, No. 13-1371, a case out of Dallas involving the use of federal tax credits to build low-income housing in minority neighborhoods.
Fair housing advocates argued that state officials had violated the Fair Housing Act by giving a disproportionate share of tax credits to landlords in minority neighborhoods. The Supreme Court challenge was brought by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs which claimed that there was no evidence of intent in using the tax credits to promote racial discrimination. The question for the justices is whether plaintiffs suing under the fair housing law must prove intentional discrimination or merely that the use of tax credits in Dallas resulted in a "disparate" impact and perpetuated de facto segregation.
The opinion of the court will have an impact not only in Texas but also on the fate of subsidized housing throughout the United States including Pasadena.
Dr. Beryl Rosenstein, Baltimore