HUD has threatened to revoke all of St. Bernard Parish's federal funding
Buffeted by federal accusations of racial discrimination and pressure to allow mixed-income apartments in Chalmette, St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro urged the parish council to join him in an all-out stand against the "federal agenda" imposed on the citizens and reject "an inappropriate insertion into our community."
St. Bernard Parish President Craig TaffaroIn response to Taffaro's statements, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development may make good on its threat to revoke all the parish's federal funding and transfer the matter on to the Department of Justice. HUD officials are expected to hunker down Thursday and determine how to move forward, according to Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center officials who participated in telephone negotiations that allegedly broke down on Wednesday.
HUD, a federal judge and the New Orleans fair housing center have accused the parish of purposely discriminating against African-Americans by blocking Provident Realty Advisors' development of a 288-unit, mixed-income housing development, and enacting zoning laws that drastically restrict multifamily housing zoning and the application process for the rental, lease and loan of single-family homes.
Parish councilmen had told HUD that by March 7 they'd rescind the two ordinances that curtailed parish housing choice. On Tuesday, at a raucous Parish Council meeting that pushed nearly to midnight, the council did end up introducing two ordinances to do just that, but the actual repeals cannot occur until April 5.
Before the vote to introduce the ordinance, Taffaro asked the Parish Council to stand with him against a federal government he characterized as inappropriately attempting to circumvent the parish's local decision-making authority. He suggested the parish issued building permits for the apartment project under federal threats to withhold money designated for the storm-ravaged parish. He said the parish should review those permits with more scrutiny. And, he suggested that the parish should seek funding to "purchase the financial interests of Provident Realty...'' He did not elaborate.
Taffaro labeled it "the morally right position" and likened himself to historical figures in his fight for "the right to govern ourselves within the constitutional framework of the United States of America."
He said his statements were "not meant to incite or placate but rather to clarify that the importance of the place in which we stand today cannot be dismissed as simply an agenda of a social, political, economic, or otherwise nature. This place is an expression of a human nature."
"Our stand has been challenged, mostly by outside interests. Our stand has been ridiculed, mostly by liberal media. And our stand has been eroded entirely by federal pressure," he later said.
Councilmen expressed similar sentiments, but most explained that their hands were tied because they feared the loss of federal money would be more detrimental to the parish than the apartments.
Earlier this year, HUD's Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity enforcement division filed a "housing discrimination complaint" against the parish that said the change in zoning laws in 2009 "have limited or will limit the development and occupancy of rental housing and affordable housing in the Parish and were undertaken with the intent and effect of discriminating based on race."
It says the ordinances continue "a course of conduct since Hurricane Katrina to deny and withhold real property based on race and interfere with the rights of persons to live in the New Orleans area free from unlawful discrimination."
Hundreds of residents jam-packed the council chambers on Tuesday, many of whom resembled stop signs in their red shirts worn to show their unified desire to stop the construction of four, 72-unit mixed-income apartments in Chalmette.
They emphatically explained that they are not racists and that their opposition to such housing is therefore not discriminatory.
Framing the issue in line with Taffaro's later remarks, they insisted that the federal government was clumsily intruding on local interests. Others stated they simply wished to protect the working man, still recovering from Katrina, fighting to keep his neighborhood safe and real estate values stable.
Taffaro actually attempted to flip the table entirely, saying it is the federal government, not the parish, that is perpetuating inequality.
"It is disturbing that those who oppose our will to govern and recover our community utilize the veil of equality to perpetuate the very pattern of economic oppression that exists within the contexts of the developments in question," he said.
And on Wednesday evening, in light of Taffaro's comments, the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center was considering filing a restraining order barring the parish from further interfering with the construction of the apartments.
The federal scrutiny on purported racial segregation in St. Bernard began soon after Katrina, when about 80 percent of the parish's housing stock was severely damaged and the council began passing laws to direct regrowth.
Then-councilman Taffaro introduced a "blood relative" ordinance that restricted rentals by only allowing the rental or occupancy of single-family residences to anyone other than a blood relative - family members "related by blood within the first, second or third direct ascending or descending generation" - without first obtaining a permit. Several months earlier, Taffaro had introduced a moratorium on multifamily housing that discussed the need to maintain "quality of life issues."
Echoing themes repeated on Tuesday, that blood-relative ordinance referred to "family values," maintaining "integrity and stability," and "securing for the community the blessings of quiet enjoyment of their pre-existing neighborhoods."
Both ordinances ended up passing, and raised the ire of HUD and local fair housing advocates at the time.
Based on the two Taffaro-introduced ordinances, U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan issued a three-year federal consent decree barring St. Bernard from further violating the Fair Housing Act.
Soon after Berrigan's consent order, a developer entered the stage interested in building the four 72-unit apartments. And as officials repeatedly acted to prevent their development, Berrigan in 2009 issued several rulings stating such actions segregated black people, violated the earlier consent order and therefore were in contempt of court.
As a result, the parish has been forced to pay about $1.5 million, not including its own attorney fees.
In the midst of her contempt of court rulings, St. Bernard was introducing the two ordinances that have more recently caused HUD's consternation.
The sweeping zoning ordinance changes disallowed multifamily housing as a permitted use in areas zoned A-1, C-1, C-2, and I-1 and eliminated RO zoning, which also had allowed multifamily. Now multifamily housing is only permitted in R-3 zoning areas, and through types of Planned Unit Developments that require special approval.
Meanwhile, earlier this week, Berrigan filed an order stating that because it appears "contemptuous behavior" of the parish is continuing, that the consent decree -- which was set to expire on Sunday -- will now be extended through Dec. 31.
Benjamin Alexander-Bloch can be reached at bbloch@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3321.