Impact Litigation/Exclusionary Zoning

October 5, 2006

Overview of Typical Private Fair Housing Cases

HOWARD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW

CLINICAL LAW CENTER

FAIR HOUSING CLINICAL PROGRAM

FALL 2006 PROFESSOR BRIAN GILMORE

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2006

GUEST LECTURER:
JONATHAN P. HOOKS, STAFF ATTORNEY
HOUSING & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
LAWYER’S COMMITTEE ON CIVIL RIGHTS UNDER LAW

Thursday, October 5, 2006

Lecture Overview

  1. Fair Housing Overview Presentation
  2. Overview of Typical Private Fair Housing Cases

  3. Impact Litigation/Exclusionary Zoning

    a. Nassau County/Garden City
    b. Arlington Heights, 429 U.S. 252 (1977)
    c. Discussion on exclusionary zoning scenarios

Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law Mission Statement

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, was formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to involve the private bar in providing legal services to address racial discrimination. The principal mission of the Lawyers’ Committee is to secure, through the rule of law, equal justice under law.

The Committee’s major objective is to use the skills and resources of the bar to obtain equal opportunity for minorities by addressing factors that contribute to racial justice and economic opportunity. Given our nation’s history of racial discrimination, de jure segregation, and the de facto inequities that persist, the Lawyers’ Committee’s primary focus is to represent the interest of African Americans in particular, other racial and ethnic minorities, and other victims of discrimination, where doing so can help to secure justice for all racial and ethnic minorities.

The Lawyers’ Committee implements its mission and objectives by marshaling the pro bono resources of the bar for litigation, public policy advocacy, and other forms of service by lawyers to the cause of civil rights.

Housing, Lending and Community Development Project

Housing discrimination is a painful, stubborn reality for people of color in the United States. All too often, substandard segregated housing in minority communities exacerbates economic, political and educational disparities. In an effort to overcome these problems, the Fair Housing and Community Development Project litigates fair housing lawsuits under the Fair Housing Act to challenge discrimination in rental and private markets as well as in public and assisted housing.

The Project has obtained millions of dollars in relief for our fair housing clients and trains numerous local private attorneys to handle fair housing cases and to accept referral cases from fair housing councils that use testing to confirm legitimate complaints of housing discrimination. The Project also works with African American and other minority communities to promote and support community development activities that address the legacy of disinvestment and discriminatory practices by government and private entities. The Project provides litigation and transactional legal services to existing and emerging community development corporations (CDC’s).

Jonathan Hooks

john_hooks.jpg Jonathan Hooks is a staff attorney in the Fair Housing & Community Development Project. His practice includes discrimination claims involving private housing, subsidized housing programs, municipal planning/zoning, community development, and lending. Cases he has handled for the Lawyers’ Committee include ACORN et al. v. Nassau County et al., challenging exclusionary zoning and a history of discriminatory housing planning decisions in Long Island ; Pitt et al. v. City of Portsmouth et al., which resulted in a $1.8 million settlement for a class of residents displaced by a redevelopment plan and the establishment of a fair housing center in a Virginia city; and Holloway et al. v. Thetford Property Management et al., which settled claims for racial harassment and discrimination by a property manager. He is also leading the Lawyers’ Committee’s nationwide effort to address civil rights concerns in the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program and the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program. Mr. Hooks also works on amicus briefs to support civil rights law reform.

Prior to joining the Lawyers’ Committee in 2002, Mr. Hooks practiced with the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia, specializing in landlord-tenant law, and with the law firm Arnold & Porter where he practiced antitrust and intellectual property law.

Mr. Hooks is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Harvard College.

Events Calendar