Gautreaux v. Landrieu

523 F. Supp. 665, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13615
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJune 16, 1981
Docket66 C 1459, 66 C 1460
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 523 F. Supp. 665 (Gautreaux v. Landrieu) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gautreaux v. Landrieu, 523 F. Supp. 665, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13615 (N.D. Ill. 1981).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

CROWLEY, District Judge.

This complex litigation began in 1966 when plaintiffs, approximately 43,000 black tenants of and applicants for public housing, brought this action against the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA). Plaintiffs alleged that the CHA violated their rights under the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. § 1981 et seq., and the equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment by choosing project sites in exclusively black neighborhoods and creating racial quotas to limit the number of black families in white projects. This court found that CHA had deliberately engaged in discriminatory tenant-assignment and site-selection procedures. CHA was ordered to use its best efforts to increase the supply of low-rent public housing in predominantly white neighborhoods and, thus, eliminate existing patterns of residential separation of the races. Gautreaux v. CHA, 296 F.Supp. 907 (N.D.Ill.1969).

Unfortunately, efforts to realize the benefits of the judgment order have been continually impeded by protracted post-judgment litigation. The supplemental order entered in July, 1969 contained a comprehensive plan designed to remedy the effects of and prevent the continuation of CHA’s unconstitutional procedures by enjoining further construction of public housing in non-white areas without simultaneous construction in white areas. The supplemental order specifically enjoined: 1) further construction of public housing in non-white areas unless there was simultaneous construction of at least 75 percent of all proposed units in Chicago’s white areas; 2) concentration of large numbers of dwelling units in or near a single location; and 3) dwelling units designed for occupancy of more than 240 persons. 1 This supplemental *667 order, along with other supplemental orders, were unsuccessfully appealed to the Seventh Circuit and the United States Supreme Court. See Gautreaux v. Chicago Housing Authority, 265 F.Supp. 582 (N.D.Ill.1967) (tenants have the right to maintain an action alleging that housing is being administered in a racially discriminatory manner); Gautreaux v. Chicago Housing Authority, 265 F.Supp. 582 (N.D.Ill.1967) (evidence established that CHA intentionally chose sites and adopted tenant assignment procedures for the purpose of maintaining existing patterns of residential separation of the races); Gautreaux v. Chicago Housing Authority, 304 F.Supp. 736 (N.D.Ill.1969) (supplemental judgment order ordering that no public housing be developed in census tracts with more than 30% minority population); Gautreaux v. Chicago Housing Authority, 436 F.2d 306 (7th Cir. 1970); cert. denied, 402 U.S. 922, 91 S.Ct. 1378, 28 L.Ed.2d 661 (1971) (no abuse of discretion, a year after original order entered, to impose deadlines for submissions to plan commission and city council); Gautreaux v. Romney, 448 F.2d 731 (7th Cir. 1971) (dismissal for lack of jurisdiction of a request for injunction against HUD prohibiting it from continuing to provide relief to CHA reversed); Gautreaux v. Romney, 332 F.Supp. 360 (N.D.Ill.1971), rev’d 457 F.2d 124 (7th Cir. 1972) (insufficient nexus between CHA housing program and HUD’s Model Cities program to permit enjoining of Model Cities funds to Chicago because of lack of compliance with 1969 judgment order); Gautreaux v. Chicago Housing Authority, 342 F.Supp. 827 (N.D.Ill.1972), aff’d sub nom., Gautreaux v. City of Chicago, 480 F.2d 210 (7th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 1144, 94 S.Ct. 895, 39 L.Ed.2d 98 (1974) (district court ordered CHA to by-pass Chicago City Council approval for selection of sites for low rent housing); Gautreaux v. Romney, 363 F.Supp. 690 (N.D.Ill.1973), rev’d sub nom. Gautreaux v. Chicago Housing Authority, 503 F.2d 930 (7th Cir. 1974) (district court has authority to order suburban or metropolitan area relief for constitutional violations occurring within city limits); Gautreaux v. Chicago Housing Authority, 384 F.Supp. 37 (N.D.Ill.1974), petition for writ of mandamus denied sub nom., Chicago Housing Authority v. Austin, 511 F.2d 82 (7th Cir. 1975) (district court has the authority to refer the issue of intracity relief to a U.S. Magistrate to serve as a Master); Hills v. Gautreaux, 425 U.S. 284, 96 S.Ct. 1538, 47 L.Ed.2d 792 (1976) (district court has the authority to undertake remedial efforts beyond the boundaries of the municipality in which the constitutional violation occurred and may, in its discretion, order metropolitan relief).

In 1966 a companion action was begun by plaintiffs against the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), charging that HUD had sanctioned and assisted CHA’s racially discriminatory public housing and seeking to prevent HUD from providing further assistance to CHA until these practices were eliminated. After the action was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, the ruling was appealed. The Seventh Circuit reversed, finding that HUD was liable along with CHA for Chicago’s discriminatory housing patterns because HUD knowingly acquiesced to CHA’s unconstitutional procedures. The case was remanded to the district court for appropriate relief. Gautreaux v. Romney, 448 F.2d 731 (7th Cir. 1971). Numerous appeals followed this remand, CHA challenging this court’s directives and plaintiffs opposing what they characterized as the “limited scope of relief.” Thus, despite continuous litigation, numerous hearings and remedial court orders and referral to a Special Master, see Gautreaux v. Landrieu, 498 F.Supp. 1072 (N.D.Ill.1980), during the past twelve years, plaintiffs have yet to realize more than token relief. A proposed consent decree, negotiated between plaintiffs and HUD, which purports to be a workable plan for finally delivering to the plaintiff class the relief to which it is entitled and to which it *668 has long been deprived, is now before the court for approval.

Some understanding of the 1969 judgment order entered against CHA is essential to an evaluation of the proposed decree because the decree alters some of the fundamental premises of the 1969 judgment order. The 1969 judgment order divided the County of Cook on the basis of census tracts into two areas: the Limited Public Housing Area and the General Public Housing Area.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cobell v. Norton
283 F. Supp. 2d 66 (District of Columbia, 2003)
Gautreaux v. Chicago Housing Authority
981 F. Supp. 1091 (N.D. Illinois, 1997)
Blanchard v. Edgemark Financial Corp.
175 F.R.D. 293 (N.D. Illinois, 1997)
Harris v. City of Philadelphia
47 F.3d 1342 (Third Circuit, 1995)
Anderson v. Torrington Co.
755 F. Supp. 834 (N.D. Indiana, 1991)
King v. Levin
540 N.E.2d 492 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1989)
Gautreaux v. Pierce
743 F.2d 526 (Seventh Circuit, 1984)
Wicker Park Historic District Preservation Fund v. Pierce
565 F. Supp. 1066 (N.D. Illinois, 1982)
Dorothy Gautreaux v. The Chicago Housing Authority
690 F.2d 601 (Seventh Circuit, 1982)
Gautreaux v. Pierce
548 F. Supp. 1284 (N.D. Illinois, 1982)
United States v. Hooker Chemicals & Plastics Corp.
540 F. Supp. 1067 (W.D. New York, 1982)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
523 F. Supp. 665, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13615, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gautreaux-v-landrieu-ilnd-1981.