Case: 17-10943 Document: 00514909026 Page: 1 Date Filed: 04/09/2019 IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit FILED April 9, 2019 No. 17-10943 Lyle W. Cayce Clerk THE INCLUSIVE COMMUNITIES PROJECT, INCORPORATED, Plaintiff - Appellant v. LINCOLN PROPERTY COMPANY; LEGACY MULTIFAMILY NORTH III, L.L.C.; CPF PC RIVERWALK, L.L.C.; HLI WHITE ROCK, L.L.C.; BRICK ROW APARTMENTS, L.L.C., Defendants - Appellees Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas Before DAVIS, JONES, and ENGELHARDT, Circuit Judges. KURT D. ENGELHARDT, Circuit Judge: With this appeal, we review the district court’s dismissal with prejudice, pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, of Fair Housing Act claims – including claims of “disparate treatment” and “disparate impact” – asserted against the owners and management company of apartment complexes in the greater Dallas, Texas area that decline to participate in the federal “Section 8” Housing Choice Voucher Program. For the reasons stated herein, we affirm. Case: 17-10943 Document: 00514909026 Page: 2 Date Filed: 04/09/2019 No. 17-10943 I. The plaintiff, The Inclusive Communities Project (“ICP”), “is a fair housing focused nonprofit organization working with households seeking access to housing in predominately non-minority locations in the Dallas area.” 1 In furtherance of its mission, ICP provides “counseling, financial assistance, and other services to Black or African American households participating in the [federal] Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV or voucher) Program administered by the Dallas Housing Authority (DHA).” According to ICP, its voucher clients seek assistance in finding and obtaining “dwelling units in safe and secure communities with higher median incomes, good schools, low poverty rates, and adequate public and private serve and facilities (high opportunity areas).” The financial assistance offered by ICP may include the payment of landlord incentives or bonus payments (to encourage leasing to voucher participant households), application fees, and security deposits. ICP also offers landlords in higher opportunity areas the option of a contract with ICP as a guarantor for voucher households or with ICP as the sub-lessor for voucher 1 Paragraphs 7 and 13 of ICP’s complaint additionally state, in pertinent part: 7. ICP is organized to work for the creation and maintenance of thriving racially and economically inclusive communities, expansion of fair and affordable housing opportunities for low-income families, and redress for policies and practices that perpetuate the harmful effects of discrimination and segregation. ICP operates to create and obtain affordable housing in nonminority concentrated areas within the Dallas metropolitan area for persons eligible for low income housing including voucher households. This includes, among other means, providing the counseling and other forms of assistance to voucher households seeking to utilize their housing choice voucher to move into those areas. 13. ICP’s mission is directly connected to the provision of racially integrated housing opportunities and the elimination of racial segregation. 2 Case: 17-10943 Document: 00514909026 Page: 3 Date Filed: 04/09/2019 No. 17-10943 households. ICP alleges that it proposed these alternative contractual arrangements in response to ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals