Housing Authority That Allegedly Assigned Elderly Residents To Housing Based On Race Rather Than Place On Waiting List, & Restricted Those With Disabilities To One Complex To Cough Up $120K To Settle Fair Housing Lawsuit

From the U.S. Department of Justice (Washington, D.C.):

• The Justice Department announced [] that the Bossier City, Louisiana, Housing Authority (BCHA) has agreed to pay $120,000 and adopt new policies and practices to settle a lawsuit alleging that it discriminated on the basis of race and disability, in violation of the Fair Housing Act. The settlement must still be approved by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana.
  
  The complaint alleges that from 2007 to 2014, BCHA assigned elderly residents to housing on the basis of race, rather than by their place on the waiting list, and restricted residents with disabilities primarily to one of BCHA’s seven apartment complexes.
  
  Specifically, the Justice Department alleges that BCHA assigned white elderly residents to Patricia Plaza I or Patricia Plaza II, the two complexes that it had reserved for elderly persons. By contrast, the complaint alleges that BCHA assigned African-American elderly residents to one of its other five complexes, all of which were at least 90 percent African-American.
  
  The complaint further alleges that BCHA primarily assigned residents with disabilities to Patricia Plaza II and did not consider such residents for vacancies at BCHA’s six other properties.

For more, see Bossier City, Louisiana, Housing Authority Agrees to Pay $120,000 and Implement Reforms to Settle Justice Department Lawsuit.