On September 27, 2010, the United States filed a lawsuit under the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. §3601 against the City of Royston, Georgia and the Housing Authority of the City of Royston, Georgia ("RHA") in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia. The Plaintiff alleged that the Defendants engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination based on race or color in the rental of RHA units. Specifically, the Plaintiff alleged the Defendants steered applicants based on race or color to segregated areas of the RHA complexes, and admitted white applicants ahead of eligible applicants of color who had higher places on the waiting list when there were vacancies in predominately white complexes, to avoid housing black and white tenants together.

Two days later, on September 29, 2010, the Court (Judge Clay) approved a five-year Consent Decree agreed to by the parties. In addition to general prohibitions against race and color discrimination, the Decree required development and distribution of a detailed non-discrimination policy covering all aspects of (1) receiving, handling, processing, rejecting, and approving rental inquiries and applications made in-person, by telephone, or by other means; (2) assigning prospective tenants to new units; (3) transferring existing tenants to different units; and (4) providing services to tenants. All involved employees were to be trained and were required to acknowledge that they received, understood, and agreed to abide by policy's requirements. The decree provided for reporting to and monitoring by the Justice Department to assure compliance, and established a $270,000 settlement fund to compensate aggrieved parties.

The decree ended in 2015 without any further litigation. The case is now closed.

Stacey McClurkin - 12/21/2011


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