Settlement proposed in Dalas Public housing segregation suit

• Thousands of poor black people were forced to live in subsidized, segregated slums.

A settlement has been proposed in the nearly 20-year-old class-action lawsuit against the Dallas Housing Authority over racial segregation in public housing. The proposed agreement states the housing authority has taken the necessary steps to end segregation by giving people a choice of where to live, revitalizing neighborhoods and upgrading rundown facilities. "They [housing officials] have done what they can to eradicate the facts of the past segregation and other forms of discrimination," said attorney Mike Daniel, who represents the plaintiffs in the case. U.S. District Judge Jerry Buchmeyer has set a Dec. 21 hearing to consider the proposal. Seven women sued the housing authority, the city of Dallas and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in June 1985, contending that public housing conditions were separate and unequal. Judge Buchmeyer agreed that thousands of poor black people were forced to live in subsidized, segregated slums. He ordered the housing authority to provide 3,205 homes in predominantly white areas. He said 474 of the homes must be new. An appeals court later ruled that the housing authority could not use race as a factor in selecting the housing sites. The city of Dallas and HUD have since reached agreements with plaintiffs and have been released from the case. The housing authority has fulfilled most of the judge's order to provide housing. The settlement proposal outlines other steps the housing authority must take to remedy the past discrimination, including monitoring criminal activity at all apartment projects in which 10 or more of its Section 8 recipients live. [more]