Eminent-domain Case Goes to the U.S. Supreme Court

In what appears to be the first case of its kind in the country, a municipality has been given the initial green light to take by eminent domain a federally subsidized housing development, in spite of strong opposition from the property owners, the tenants (represented by the Shriver Center), and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In April 2009, the City of Joliet, Illinois, won a significant court decision in the Seventh Circuit in its ongoing attempt to condemn Evergreen Terrace, a local low-income housing development. The Seventh Circuit’s ruling could have potential harmful consequences for federally assisted housing programs, particularly those initiatives aimed at preservation.

Evergreen Terrace is a HUD-insured, project-based Section 8 multifamily housing development located in the thriving downtown part of Joliet. Evergreen Terrace is home to356 families, most of whom are low-income African Americans. For the past ten years, the City has sought to eliminate Evergreen Terrace and, as HUD, the owners, and the tenants have alleged, remove all of the property’s residents from the City. 

In July 2009 the Seventh Circuit denied the defendants’ petitions for rehearing/rehearing en banc. HUD determined that it will not seek certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court. On October 13, 2009, the property owners and the Evergreen Terrace tenants filed separate petitions for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court. A decision on the motions is not expected until January 2010 at the earliest. On October 2, 2009, one of the Evergreen Terrace tenants also filed a land-use Fair Housing Act complaint with the HUD Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. That complaint is under review by the U.S. attorney general.  On November _, 2009, HUD amended its answer in the federal condemnation case, to allege for the first time that the City’s actions to eliminate Evergreen Terrace are motivated by race discrimination in violation of the Fair Housing Act, Illinois Human Rights Act, and Equal Protection Clause.  The project’s owners and the Evergreen Terrace tenants have made these same allegations for the last several years, both in their answers to the complaint and in two separate civil rights suits against the City.