Recent Court Rulings

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Facts: A resident who was a construction worker sued the local PHA and a construction company that did work at the site for discrimination. The worker was employed by a roofing company that was a subcontractor for the construction company. He claimed that his hours were significantly reduced by the roofing company and that the PHA and the construction company were aware of this reduction and permitted it to continue.

Facts: A PHA issued a Section 8 housing voucher to a resident in December 2008. The resident was notified in September 2011 that he was being terminated from the voucher program for failing to report a change in family income. The apparent change in income was a decrease in the resident's Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and an increase in his two daughters' Social Security Disability Income (SSDI).

Facts: Two residents signed a lease in June 2010, in which one was identified as the “tenant” and the other was identified as “co-tenant.” One day, the co-tenant confronted his neighbor and physically struck him. The neighbor then filed a complaint with the police department. The day after the confrontation, the PHA sent the tenant a termination notice. The tenant requested an informal telephone conference to review the determination to te...

Facts: A resident was arrested near her apartment complex and later charged with possession of cocaine and resisting law enforcement officers. Three weeks later, the PHA sent the resident a “Notice to Terminate Lease.” The notice stated that the PHA was terminating her lease because of her cocaine possession arrest. She was given 30 days to vacate the property, and the notice informed her that she didn't qualify for a pre-termination hearing becau...

Facts: An owner participating in the Section 8 program asked a court to require the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to intervene in his city's “personal-vendetta-driven” administration of its Section 8 program. The owner claimed that city officials have forced his Section 8 residents to move out of his units and that Tucson officials approved two of his Section 8 contracts in 2010 before informing him shortly ther...

Facts: Police officers searched a resident's daughter and found an envelope containing white powder in her pocketbook. At the time of the search, the daughter told the officers that it was not hers and that she didn't know what it was. She was then told by an officer at the scene that it was cocaine, and, in response, she told the officers that she didn't use drugs.

Facts: After a resident passed away, her son asked the PHA to consider him as a “remaining family member.” According to the PHA's policy, a remaining family member is a member of the original tenant family and may succeed to a former resident's lease if he or she is otherwise eligible for public housing in accordance with the admissions standards for applicants.

Facts: An owner sued to evict a low-income resident from a unit that was part of a privately operated site developed on city-owned land with assistance from a local redevelopment agency. Her annual lease had been twice renewed and her rent subsidy approved through the end of the fiscal year.

Facts: A local PHA hired a temporary maintenance mechanic. The man was assigned to work under a supervisor, and his project was to install shower stalls in public housing in East St. Louis, Ill. While working on the shower-installation project, the mechanic complained to co-workers about the shoddy workmanship of various housing authority employees working on the project.

Facts: A local PHA knew that a resident was incarcerated at the county jail when it sent a letter to her home address notifying her that it was terminating her housing assistance payments. The resident completed her sentence, returned to her unit, and discovered the termination notice after the appeal deadline had passed.

The PHA denied her request for a hearing as untimely. The resident sued, claiming denial of due process, and asked the court to require t...