Journal Article

Obstacles to desegregating public housing: Lessons learned from implementing eight consent decrees

Herbig, Carla, Richer, Elise K., Levy, Diane K., Temkin, Kenneth, Popkin, Susan J., Galster, George C.

2003

Overview

Between 1992 and 1996 the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) settled a number of legal cases involving housing authorities and agreed to take remedial action as part of court-enforced consent decrees entered into with plaintiffs. These housing authorities faced significant obstacles that impaired their ability to comply swiftly and fully with all of the elements in the desegregation consent decrees. The obstacles fell into two broad categories: contextual obstacles (racial composition of waiting lists and resident populations, lack of affordable rental housing, and inadequate public transportation), and capacity and coordination obstacles (conflict among implementing agencies and ineffective monitoring by HUD). Findings presented here highlight the sizable potential delay between the time a legal remedy is imposed and when plaintiffs in public housing segregation disputes realize any benefits. They also reinforce the argument that implementation problems will be legion when policies impose a significant scope of required changes on a large number of actors who must collaborate, yet are not uniformly capable or sympathetic to the goals being promoted. © 2003 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.

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• Subject: Affordable housing / African Americans / Agency Cooperation / Case Studies / Community Attitudes / Community Change / Compliance (Legal) / Conflict / Connecticut / Consent / Consent decrees / Consent judgments / Coordination / Court Litigation / Courts / Desegregation / Disputes / Housing / Housing authorities / Housing discrimination / Housing Needs / Housing Policy / Legal Cases / Litigation / Local government / Minnesota / Minority Groups / Mobility / Nebraska / Neighborhood Integration / Neighborhoods / New York / Pennsylvania / Plaintiffs / Policy analysis / Policy Implementation / Policy studies / Public Agencies / Public Housing / Public Policy / Public transportation / Racial Composition / Racial Relations / Racial Segregation / Rentals / Residential Segregation / Resistance to Change / Segregation / Social housing / Tenants / Texas / Transportation / U.S.A / United States of America / Urban development / Vouchers / Waiting lists