Suit Claims New Orleans Plan Discriminates [View All]

[AnOhioan]

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges that a federal plan to demolish four public housing complexes is discriminatory and violates international laws that protect people displaced by natural disasters.

The suit was filed by several residents against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Housing Authority of New Orleans, which was effectively taken over by HUD four years ago because of mismanagement.

After Hurricane Katrina, HUD laid out a plan to demolish four of the city's deteriorating complexes, reopen others closed since Katrina and give public housing residents more money to rent homes with vouchers.

But critics say the agency's plan will drive black families out of the city. Before Katrina, 5,100 families lived in public housing units in New Orleans; only 1,100 have returned since the storm

More at http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5915378,00.html