Congress begins investigating whether HUD Secretary Samuel Pierce engaged in mismanagement and abuse of resources during his eight-year tenure under Reagan, uncovering that the department became a center of influence peddling and favoritism toward Pierce’s friends and political allies. During …
Samuel PierceDeborah Gore DeanJames WattThomas DemeryU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developmentinstitutional-capturesystematic-corruptionhousing-policyrevolving-door
The Supreme Court rules in Hills v. Gautreaux that metropolitan-wide remedies are permissible for housing discrimination, distinguishing the case from its Milliken v. Bradley school desegregation decision that limited remedies to municipal boundaries. Justice Potter Stewart’s opinion finds …
U.S. Supreme CourtJustice Potter StewartU.S. Department of Housing and Urban DevelopmentChicago Housing AuthorityLeadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communitiesinstitutional-captureracial-oppressionhousing-policylegal-resistance
Dorothy Gautreaux, a community organizer and resident of the Altgeld Gardens public housing project on Chicago’s South Side, becomes lead plaintiff in a landmark class-action lawsuit filed by six Black tenants with help from the American Civil Liberties Union. The suit alleges that the Chicago …
Dorothy GautreauxChicago Housing AuthorityAmerican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developmentinstitutional-captureracial-oppressionhousing-policylegal-resistance
The Federal Housing Administration publishes its Underwriting Manual, which establishes formal mortgage lending requirements that institutionalize racism and segregation within the housing industry. The manual emphasizes the negative impact of “infiltration of inharmonious racial groups” …
Federal Housing AdministrationU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developmentinstitutional-captureracial-oppressionhousing-policysystematic-corruption