After Supreme Court Setback, Texas Ultimately Wins Fair Housing Lawsuit

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Texas Tribune: After Supreme Court Setback, Texas Ultimately Wins Fair Housing Lawsuit

by Neena Satija Aug. 26, 2016 3Comments

 

More than a year ago, civil rights and fair housing activists cheered when the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a lawsuit over housing segregation in Texas to go forward.

 

On Friday, a federal district judge dismissed it.

 

The ruling, by U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater, is the latest in the saga of a lawsuit filed years ago by the Dallas-based Inclusive Communities Project (ICP).

 

ICP, a nonprofit devoted to fair housing issues, argued that the state doled out tax credits in Dallas in a way that packed minorities into poor neighborhoods and spared white neighborhoods from development of low-income housing. The result is that neighborhoods throughout Dallas remain segregated, the project argued. Even if this didn't happen intentionally, Texas could still be liable if the impact itself reinforced segregation, ICP argued — and last year, the Supreme Court agreed with that argument in a 5-4 decision.