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Abstract
Over the last two decades, the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program has repeatedly been adapted as a vehicle to respond to federal disasters, such as floods, hurricanes, and terrorist strikes. In this article, I describe the use of the CDBG program for disaster recovery, identify changes in rules governing the use of special disaster-related allocations, and explain the advantages and limitations of using the CDBG program to distribute funds to disaster-devastated areas. In particular, I analyze the operation of CDBG disaster-recovery assistance programs in Louisiana and Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. I examine how the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development–approved CDBG disaster-recovery programs in these states were designed and implemented in a class and racially discriminatory manner that violated the Fair Housing Act and the low-and-moderate-income rules of the Housing and Community Development Act. In conclusion, I critique the practice of granting waivers of CDBG rules and requirements and suggest policy recommendations to better address the needs of disaster-impacted communities in the future.
Notes
1. Section 3604(a) of the Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to “make unavailable or deny” housing to any person because of race. Section 3605(a) makes it unlawful to discriminate on the basis of race in the availability, terms, or conditions of residential real estate-related transactions. Section 3608(e)(5) of Title VIII of the Fair Housing Act requires HUD and recipients of federal funds to “administer the programs and activities relating to housing and urban development in a manner affirmatively to further” fair housing. Finally, Section 5304(b)(2) of the Housing and Community Development Act requires that the use of all CDBG funds be conducted in a manner that “affirmatively further[s] fair housing.” HUD's implementing regulations require that grantees submit an action plan to fulfill these obligations (71 Fed. Reg. at 7669; 71 Fed. Reg. at 63,338–39; 72 Fed. Reg. 70,472, 70,472–73). In addition to detailing the intended uses of all CDBG-DR funds, the action plan must include assurances that the grantee will comply with the Fair Housing Act and will affirmatively further fair housing.
2. Quigley, Bill (2006). Administrative Complaint, Challenging the Misuse of Federal Community Development Block Grants by the State of Louisiana in “Road Home” Expenditures of Federal Funds Because There is No Guarantee of a “Fair Share” for Low and Moderate Income Renters and Homeowners. (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development June 20, 2 2006). Cited in Finger 2007
3. Letter from Alphonso Jackson, HUD secretary, to Governor Haley Barbour, January 25, 2008 (cited in U.S. Senate 2009, p. 155).
4. Mississippi State Conference NAACP, Gulf Coast Fair Housing Center, et al., plaintiffs, v. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, defendant. Re: Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief. United States District Court for the District of Columbia. http://www.lawyerscommittee.org/admin/fair_housing/documents/files/0006.pdf
5. The MDA describes the various partial plans at its website, found at http://www.mississippi.org/content.aspx?url = /page/3623.
6. Mississippi State Conference NAACP, Gulf Coast Fair Housing Center, Dorothy Mcclendon, Zelda Williams, Rangisma Dilworth and Pamela Landry, appellants, v. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, appellees, on Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Brief of Appellants, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit No. 10–5055, case 10–5055, document 1,252,274, filed 06/28/2010. http://www.lawyerscommittee.org/admin/fair_housing/documents/files/Plaintiffs-Appellant-Brief-for-the-D.C.-Circuit.pdf
7. Letter from Mercedes Marquez, assistant secretary, HUD, to Jon Mabry, chief operating officer, Disaster Recovery Division, MDA, November 8, 2010. Re: Mississippi's Long-Term Workforce Housing (LTWH) Action Plan. http://www.lawyerscommittee.org/admin/fair_housing/documents/files/10–29-action-plan.pdf
8. Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center, et al. Plaintiffs v. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, et al. Defendants. November 12, 2008. Complaint For Declaratory and Injunctive Relief. Introductory Statement. United States District Court. http://www.gnofairhousing.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/11-12-08_RoadHomeComplaint.pdf
9. Testimony of Matthew Colangelo, director of the Economic Justice Group, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (U.S. House of Representatives, 2010).
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Kevin Fox Gotham
Kevin Fox Gotham, PhD, is a professor of sociology and associate dean of academic affairs in the School of Liberal Arts at Tulane University in New Orleans. He has research interests in urban redevelopment, political economy of tourism, postdisaster rebuilding, risk and vulnerability, resilience, and sustainability studies. He is the author of Race, Real Estate and Uneven Development (SUNY, 2002, 2014 (second edition)), Authentic New Orleans (New York University Press, 2007), Critical Perspectives on Urban Redevelopment (Elsevier, 2001), and Crisis Cities: Disaster and Redevelopment in New York and New Orleans (Oxford, 2014).