Tenants Continue Efforts to Save Evergreen Terrace
The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law continued its efforts this year to save the low-income housing development Evergreen Terrace. These efforts brought the Shriver Center to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on an issue of federal preemption that may have devastating implications for federally subsidized low-income housing nationally.
Evergreen Terrace is a 356-unit project-based Section 8 development that provides affordable housing to low-income residents in Joliet, Illinois. In 2001 the owners of Evergreen Terrace sought to restructure their mortgage with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). As a part of the mortgage restructuring, HUD evaluated the
rehabilitation needs of Evergreen Terrace and the affordable housing needs of the community. HUD determined that Evergreen Terrace should be preserved, and HUD provided the financial restructuring necessary to rehabilitate the property. In return, federal law requires that Evergreen Terrace be maintained as affordable housing for the next thirty years.
The City of Joliet, however, seeks to eliminate Evergreen Terrace. In 2005 Joliet filed a lawsuit, pending in federal court, to take Evergreen Terrace by eminent domain. HUD, the owners of Evergreen Terrace, and a group of tenants represented by the Shriver Center, are defendants in the lawsuit and oppose the condemnation.
The central issue has been whether Joliet’s proposed condemnation conflicts with the federal law governing federal housing programs and is therefore prohibited under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. HUD, the owners, and the tenants maintain that the condemnation does conflict with federal law because it would destroy the very housing that these federal programs aim to preserve.
In 2008 the federal district court ruled that federal law did not preempt the condemnation. HUD, the owners, and the tenants appealed this decision to the Seventh Circuit. In April the Seventh Circuit held that the condemnation was not preempted by federal law. HUD, the owners, and the tenants also filed petitions for rehearing en banc, which were subsequently denied. The parties now face a condemnation trial regarding the defendants’ remaining defenses, including the tenants’ and the owners’ allegations of race discrimination. The Seventh Circuit’s determination that federal law does not bar the condemnation may have devastating implications not only for the residents of Evergreen Terrace, who will be displaced from their homes and likely their community, but also for federally subsidized housing throughout the country. Following Joliet’s lead, municipalities may now try unilaterally to rid themselves of low-income housing developments, one eminent domain case at a time.
Evergreen Terrace is a 356-unit project-based Section 8 development that provides affordable housing to low-income residents in Joliet, Illinois. In 2001 the owners of Evergreen Terrace sought to restructure their mortgage with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). As a part of the mortgage restructuring, HUD evaluated the
rehabilitation needs of Evergreen Terrace and the affordable housing needs of the community. HUD determined that Evergreen Terrace should be preserved, and HUD provided the financial restructuring necessary to rehabilitate the property. In return, federal law requires that Evergreen Terrace be maintained as affordable housing for the next thirty years.
The City of Joliet, however, seeks to eliminate Evergreen Terrace. In 2005 Joliet filed a lawsuit, pending in federal court, to take Evergreen Terrace by eminent domain. HUD, the owners of Evergreen Terrace, and a group of tenants represented by the Shriver Center, are defendants in the lawsuit and oppose the condemnation.
The central issue has been whether Joliet’s proposed condemnation conflicts with the federal law governing federal housing programs and is therefore prohibited under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. HUD, the owners, and the tenants maintain that the condemnation does conflict with federal law because it would destroy the very housing that these federal programs aim to preserve.
In 2008 the federal district court ruled that federal law did not preempt the condemnation. HUD, the owners, and the tenants appealed this decision to the Seventh Circuit. In April the Seventh Circuit held that the condemnation was not preempted by federal law. HUD, the owners, and the tenants also filed petitions for rehearing en banc, which were subsequently denied. The parties now face a condemnation trial regarding the defendants’ remaining defenses, including the tenants’ and the owners’ allegations of race discrimination. The Seventh Circuit’s determination that federal law does not bar the condemnation may have devastating implications not only for the residents of Evergreen Terrace, who will be displaced from their homes and likely their community, but also for federally subsidized housing throughout the country. Following Joliet’s lead, municipalities may now try unilaterally to rid themselves of low-income housing developments, one eminent domain case at a time.
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