Mendonsa v. Lowell Housing Authority

No. 01-2034C (Mass. Super. Ct. Suffolk County December 30, 2005) ; Clearinghouse Number: 54284

Description

Low-Income Families Oppose City’s Motion to Dismiss Their Challenge to Planned Demolition of Public Housing Development

Abstract

Plaintiffs—low-income families who are or may be applicants for defendant housing authority–administered public housing—opposed defendant city’s motion to dismiss their challenge to the planned demolition of a 284-unit family public housing development in Massachusetts. A statewide nonprofit housing organization is also a plaintiff. In this class action, plaintiffs contended that city and housing authority already took the necessary first steps toward demolition by moving families out of the development and refusing to rent vacant units to families on the waiting list. They alleged that defendants’ actions violated state law, which imposes strict conditions as a prerequisite to demolition. They further alleged that, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, defendants unlawfully used community block grant development funds in furtherance of the demolition, that defendants violated the one-for-one replacement of lower-income housing and relocation assistance requirements of section 104(d) of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, and that the proposed demolition would violate federal civil rights laws. The court denied plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction. Opposing dismissal, plaintiffs argue that city bears joint responsibility for development plan provisions that fail to meet state legislative criteria, that city spent significant amounts of federal funds in connection with the development’s demolition, and that Congress unambiguously intended that when community development block grant funds are used to plan and implement demolition of low-income housing and demolition results in displacement, section 104(d) replacement and relocation benefits are triggered.

Additional Information

Attorney Information
Plaintiff represented by: Judith Liben, Amy Copperman, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, 99 Chauncy Street, Suite 500, Boston, MA 02111, (617.357.0700x327); Marc Potvin, Neighborhood Legal Services, 170 Common St., Suite 300, Lawrence, MA 01840, (978.686.6900x201).
Docket Date
2005-12-30 00:00:00+00:00
Attorney Email
jliben@mlri.org, acopperman@mlri.org, mpotvin@nlsma.org,