Hills v. Gautreaux

Hills v. Gautreaux

Argued January 20, 1976
Decided April 20, 1976
Full case name Hills, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development v Gautreaux et al.
Citations

425 U.S. 284 (more)

S.Ct. 1538, 47 L.Ed.2d 792
Prior history Appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Holding
Racially discriminatory public housing programs violate the 5th Amendment and Civil Rights Act of 1964, and remedial action to alleviate the effects of such a practice not only is appropriate but also extends beyond city limits to the housing market of the city.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Warren E. Burger
Case opinions
Majority Stewart, joined by Burger, Blackmun, Powell, Rehnquist
Concurrence Marshall, joined by Brennan, White
Stevens took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
Laws applied
U.S. Const. Amend. V; Civil Rights Act of 1964

Hills v. Gautreaux 425 U.S. 284 (1976), was a decision of the United States Supreme Court.

In this case, a number of Chicago families living in housing projects were awarded Section 8 vouchers allowing them to move to the suburbs in compensation for the housing project's substandard conditions. Carla Anderson Hills was the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; the eponymous lead respondent was Dorothy Gautreaux. The court ruled that the department had violated the Fifth Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The significance of the case lies in the sociological conclusions that can be drawn from it. A number of families chose to move, while others stayed, and Northwestern University researchers studying the two populations concluded that low-income women who moved to the suburbs "clearly experienced improved employment and earnings, even though the program provided no job training or placement services."[1] The disparity arguably proves that concentrated poverty is self-perpetuating and simply alleviating this concentration offers an avenue for improving the quality of life of those afflicted by urban poverty.

See also

References

  1. ↑ After the Projects - American RadioWorks - American Public Media, americanradioworks.publicradio.org


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, February 21, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.