HACA board approves $900K settlement
Federal lawsuit claimed decades of discrimination
The Annapolis housing authority Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a $900,000 settlement in a federal discrimination lawsuit on Thursday, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by The Capital.
The agreement mirrors in many ways a consent decree the Annapolis City Council agreed to last week, including the monetary settlement of $900,000 that will be paid to the 15 families who are plaintiffs in the case. The sum includes the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and costs.
The Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis will be responsible for paying its own legal costs, according to the agreement.
The lawsuit claimed decades of racial discrimination by the local housing agency and the city which led to unsafe living conditions for the families who lived in public housing.
The agreement must now be reviewed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees the housing authority.
It is unclear howlong it might take the federal housing agency to review the agreement, said Melissa Maddox-Evans, the housing authority executive director.
“I hope not very long,” she said. “HUD is a bit unpredictable.”
The Board of Commissioners voted unanimously for the consent decree after more than an hour of deliberation behind closed doors. Afterward, Maddox-Evans declined to discuss the details of the agreement citing HUD policy prohibiting officials from commenting on the details of an ongoing legal matter.
Like the city’s payment, the funds will
be put into a trust account set up by the plaintiffs’ attorneys, The Donahue Law Firm.
“With thisapprovalof the consent decree by HACA’s board, the plaintiffs and our team are very pleased to bemoving forward in a positive direction,” said Joe Donahue, lead attorney for the plaintiffs. “We truly believe this will be a turning point for Annapolis. Now it is time to get to work redeveloping these communities.”
Jackie Wells, chair of the authority’s board, said she was pleased that the board had approved the agreement, but also declined to discuss specifics.
“I feel good about the decisions that we made,” she said.
The agreement lays out specific requirements of the housing authority including completing redevelopment or renovation of each of the existing 790 units in its properties.
Like the city’s consent decree, the housing authority will be tasked with seeking out funding streams from county and state governments to help finance the redevelopment of the six properties under the housing authority’s control. Redevelopment should be done with “maximum transparency and tenant participation and input,” according to the agreement.
Those efforts have begun. Demolition on Newtowne 20, one of the most dilapidated of the city’s public housing complexes, began Thursday. Construction on the new residential community will begin in October and last about 14 months. The housing authority recently announced a second redevelopment project at Morris H. Blum Senior Apartments is underway.
The agreement lasts until all of the authority’s properties are redeveloped or renovated. The redeveloped units will be legally required to remain affordable and occupied by eligible residents for a minimum of 15 years, according to the agreement.
As for the other four housing authority properties, the agreement requires the local agency to make “best efforts” to complete the redevelopment of Eastport Terrace, Harbour House, Robinwood and Bloomsbury Square by 2030. Current public housing tenants will have a “first right to return” to their property once it has been redeveloped, according to the agreement.
During redevelopment, the housing authority must seek out “non-profit, community-oriented” development firms with experience in large scale projects in“underprivileged or marginalized communities .”
It will also be responsible for identifying and reporting the existence or appearance of conflicts of interest when selecting developers while giving preference to those that are either minority-owned small businesses or companies willing to commit to minority-owned subcontractors.
As part of the agreement, the housing authority has agreed to inspect its properties with “the same rigor and standards” as those done by the city, which had begun inspecting all public housing units last year and will continue to moving forward. Any conditions deemed to be a life safety issue are to be fixed within 72 hours, according to the agreement.
Tenants who must be temporarily relocated will be put up in a hotel within three miles of their residence or be transferred to a comparable public housing unit.
The housing authority also has to look at amending its housing choice voucher administrative plan to allow residents to obtain a tenant-based voucher from HUD when repairs to their unit are expected to take longer than 30 days.
Under the agreement, any new and current employees must be educated about federal laws, such as the Fair Housing Act, Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act, which had been the foundation of the case filed against the housing authority and the City of Annapolis in May 2019.
The training would also include material on a revamped reasonable accommodations policy, which allows residents to request “a change, exception, or adjustment to a rule, policy, practice, or service that may be necessary for a person with a disability to have an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, including public and common use spaces,” according to HUD policy.
Compliance reports, describing its efforts to fulfill the requirements of the agreement are to be submitted by midJanuary and mid-July of every year while the consent decree is in effect. The reports will be made available to the public.