CT-REQ-2995 Advancing Racial Justice Pro Bono Report 01 TW V3 - Flipbook - Page 13
Housing and
economic justice
In response to systemic racial disparities in housing and
distribution of wealth and other resources, we have also
dedicated our pro bono efforts to ensuring access to equitable
housing opportunities and promoting socio-economic equality.
Advocating for affordable housing
In 2019, we successfully challenged a racially discriminatory
redevelopment plan in Norfolk, Virginia, to protect the rights
of low-income residents of color. We collaborated with civil
rights groups to file a federal Fair Housing Act lawsuit, alleging
that a redevelopment plan of public housing community
Tidewater Gardens would illegally force residents into
segregated housing, if not out of the city altogether. The
lawsuit asserted that the redevelopment plan was racially
discriminatory and that, by financing the plan without
requiring necessary changes to ensure that Black residents
of the area did not suffer racial discrimination, the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development violated
its statutory duty to promote fair housing.
In 2022, the parties reached a landmark settlement to ensure
that every former Tidewater Gardens resident who wanted
to come back to the new, redeveloped neighborhood
could do so. Under the agreement, the City and the Norfolk
Redevelopment and Housing Authority consented to
provide replacement units on-site, and to allow any families
who wished to return to the redeveloped area to access
Low Income Housing Tax Credit units or Project-Based
Voucher units to do so. The City and Housing Authority also
