Supreme Court Allows Metropolitan-Wide Housing Desegregation Remedy

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 that unlike suburban schools in Milliken, HUD itself violated the Constitution and therefore an equitable remedy can be imposed against the federal agency. The Court notes HUD, as a federal agency, possesses statutory authority to operate across the broader metropolitan housing market, establishing that federal courts can order remedies extending beyond municipalities where discrimination occurred if the responsible agency has authority to act regionally.

The decision stems from the 1966 Gautreaux lawsuit establishing CHA engaged in racial discrimination by concentrating over 10,000 public-housing units in isolated Black neighborhoods. In February 1969, the court entered summary judgment against CHA, finding it violated respondents’ constitutional rights by selecting public housing sites and assigning tenants based on race. Uncontradicted evidence showed the public housing system operated with four overwhelmingly white projects in white neighborhoods and 99.5 percent of remaining units in Black neighborhoods.

The innovative program at the consent decree’s heart becomes what is labeled a “housing mobility program,” using HUD Section 8 rent subsidies and counseling to help low-income Black families in Chicago public housing move to private-sector apartments either in mostly white suburbs or elsewhere citywide. Administered by the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities from 1976 to 1998, the Gautreaux program successfully places approximately 7,100 African American families, with over half moving to predominantly white suburban communities. Sociologist James Rosenbaum’s testimony on the program’s success before Congress leads to similar programs in 33 metropolitan areas and inspires the national Moving to Opportunity program.