Opinion ID: 2716173
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Relators’ Personal Experiences

Text: In 2007, the Dallas City Council approved a conditional development agreement with Relators for redeveloping a 32-story office building in Downtown Dallas into a housing complex (the “LTV Project”). Despite the City initially approving $102 million in bond funding, construction never began on the project and the available funding lapsed. The Relators allege that city officials made statements indicating their disapproval of the project due to the Relators’ proposed amount of low-income housing in the building. Primarily, the Relators allege that the Director of Economic Development for the City told them that “Downtown Dallas is not the right place for low-income housing” and that “low-income housing is not part of the vision for Downtown Dallas.” From their interactions with the City, the Relators “came to the conclusion that the City was actively discouraging the development of low-income housing available for people of color outside of the Southern Sector” of the City and that “the City was not promoting housing integration, but rather was furthering segregation.” To corroborate their conclusion, Relators embarked on a fifteenmonth investigation that involved compiling data and performing analyses of DHA properties, Low-Income Housing Tax Credit project locations, and City plans and reports. In 2010, Relators filed a formal complaint with HUD against the City, alleging discriminatory housing practices by the City. This administrative action, styled “1600 Pacific LP v. City of Dallas,” HUD Case Nos. 06-10-0449- 4, -6, -8, -9, was ongoing at the time the district court dismissed this case, but, as discussed more fully below, has since resulted in a HUD Letter of Findings against the City. 3 Case: 13-10884 Document: 00512721590 Page: 4 Date Filed: 08/04/2014 Nos. 13-10884 & 14-10063 The Relators have not had any personal experiences with the DHA itself, and the HUD administrative action did not involve the DHA.