Judge weighs options in public housing case
He asks about fate of those left in city if others are relocated to suburbs
By Alex Dominguez
The Associated Press
Tuesday, March 28, 2006, 6:26 PM EST
A federal judge seeking a remedy for flawed federal housing policies asked today what happens to those left behind if he agrees with the plaintiffs' plans to move some of the city's poor to wealthier suburbs.
U.S. District Judge Marvin Garbis has ruled that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development violated fair housing laws by failing to take a regional approach in desegregating Baltimore's public housing.
"The question is, are we accomplishing something good when we help some people and inevitably not others?" Garbis asked Ohio State law professor John Powell during the second day of the remedy phase in the housing suit that has lasted more than a decade.
Powell, who studies race and poverty issues, acknowledged society can only "do what we can do," but said the courts can have a positive impact.
"It's clear to me if we leave these families where they are, we will be thwarting the lives of them and their children and their children's children for the next 20, 30, 40 years," Powell said.
The plaintiffs are proposing the construction of 3,000 new low-income housing units and the use of 3,750 vouchers, most of them in suburban neighborhoods with good schools. In addition, they also seeking mobility counseling to help public housing residents find "communities of opportunity."
Government attorneys have said HUD has met or exceeded its legal requirements and the proposed remedy "is plagued with problems and should not be implemented in any form."
Powell said moving residents out of blighted areas could also create opportunities for others to redevelop the impoverished neighborhoods.
"Then you create the possibility for people to come into those areas," Powell said. "So, I think that the court can do a lot. In terms of HUD, I think HUD can do some things itself, but it can also influence other actors."
Attorneys for the federal government asked Powell about the factors used in determining which communities would be chosen, noting that a variety of factors, such as proximity to transit lines, libraries and fire departments, were not used.
Powell said because of time and data constraints, he chose what he felt were the essential factors.
Both sides also asked about conflicting research on whether the public housing residents, who are mostly black, would be willing to move to primarily white communities.
Powell said his research found that safety is the top concern of black residents in areas of concentrated poverty, and race is "fairly low on the list."
Also taking the stand today were a current Baltimore County voucher recipient, an economist, and Michael Sarbanes, executive director of the Baltimore-based Citizens Planning and Housing Association, which studies regional solutions to transportation, housing and drug-treatment problems.
When Garbis asked what role an organization such as the CBHA might play, Sarbanes noted that housing affordability is expected to become an increasingly difficult problem in the future, for the middle class as well as for the poor.
"There needs to be the sort of pointing in the right direction. That is an incredibly important task at this point. It's one of the things potentially could be very hopeful coming out of this case," Sarbanes said.
Sarbanes' testimony followed that of economist Anirban Basu, who spoke on the tightening rental market in the Baltimore region. Despite the tight market, Basu said he felt HUD's negotiating clout could overcome market conditions and provide housing for low-income residents in better communities.
Doreen Brooks moved from the Cherry Hill public housing project in Baltimore to an apartment in Towson in Baltimore County.
"I didn't believe places like that existed," she replied when asked about her new home, recounting run-ins with drug dealers at her previous home. "I love it."
Brooks said she now volunteers at a local hospital and her 21-year-old son goes to college, which he was not considering when they lived in Baltimore. She said she would never move back to Baltimore.
However, during cross-examination by a Department of Justice attorney, Brooks said she was considering moving to Tennessee.
Copyright © 2006, The Associated Press
