Copyright 2005 THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS

By KIM HORNER, Staff Writer

The Dallas Housing Authority plans to move ahead with fiercely contested plans for public housing in Far North Dallas that have been delayed for nine years because of a lawsuit by homeowners who live near the proposed location.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans recently upheld a lower court ruling that approved the site at the southeast corner of Hillcrest Road and the Bush Turnpike in Collin County. Dallas housing officials said the decision allows the agency to start the project.

The local housing agency plans to file permits to start construction next week, said Ann Lott, Dallas Housing Authority president and CEO. She said she hopes that 40 of the 7,913 families on the agency's waiting list for public housing could move in by summer 2006.

"I think this is going to give them a tremendous opportunity to move into areas that previously they haven't had access to," Ms. Lott said. "It's going to be a wonderful place for families to live."

Michael Lynn - lawyer for homeowners in the Preston Highland and Highlands of McKamy neighborhoods - said homeowners could appeal the ruling. He disputed whether the appeals court decision means that the housing authority can start the process to build the housing. He said housing officials have not told him of the plans to start construction soon.

"They haven't said anything like that to me, and I will have to deal with it when I see the facts," Mr. Lynn said.

The housing authority bought the land in 1996 to fulfill a landmark court order to desegregate public housing.

A year earlier, U.S. District Judge Jerry Buchmeyer had ordered the housing agency to provide homes for 3,205 families in predominantly white areas of Dallas and its suburbs - 474 of them new homes.

Homeowners who lived close to the proposed sites sued to stop the construction, but Judge Buchmeyer ruled against them in 1997. The 5th Circuit struck down Judge Buchmeyer's order in 1999, ruling that race cannot be used as a factor in choosing sites. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of that decision in January 2000.

The housing authority reached a final settlement in that case in December.

The 40 town houses affected by the 5th Circuit's ruling last week are the last project needed to carry out Judge Buchmeyer's 1995 desegregation order.

Homeowners in the Hillcrest Road-area neighborhood had sought to stop the construction of the 40 town houses, arguing that the housing agency violated federal law by choosing the land because the Hillcrest Road-area neighborhood is predominantly white. The housing authority countered that the selection of the site was not based on race but met other criteria, such as a low concentration of poverty.

The decision by the 5th Circuit on the Hillcrest Road property means that 40 families will have the opportunity to live in a "good, safe" neighborhood with access to jobs and transportation, said Mike Daniel, a Dallas lawyer and longtime advocate for public housing residents.

An expert in housing discrimination and segregation law said the latest decision would be watched closely in other parts of the country that face ongoing desegregation lawsuits.

"What's important about this decision is this housing will get built, and there will be some racial and economic integration ... and people's lives are going to be improved," said Florence Roisman, a law professor at Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis. Ms. Lott said the new town houses would blend in well with the surrounding neighborhood. Residents, who will be required to participate in a program to reach self-sufficiency, will pay a portion of their incomes in rent.

Through the years, the housing authority resisted several offers to buy the property and a proposed settlement with homeowners to abandon the project. Ms. Lott said her agency believed the land would be too valuable for the poor families who will live there.

"There was just no good reason to sell the property. It just wouldn't have been in the best interest of the 7,000 or so families who are waiting for public housing at any given time," Ms. Lott said. "To sell it would be to give up."