Abstract:
This case explores both the public policy and legal issues that arose when the largest federally assisted rental housing complex in the US chose to achieve racial integration through a policy of "managed occupancy." In order to achieve its publicly stated goal to be 70 percent white and 30 percent minority in residential composition, the management of the 5,800-unit complex in southern Brooklyn took such steps as holding large numbers of apartments vacant until white tenants could be found for them--even as hundreds of blacks were placed on a waiting list. This policy posed a series of difficult decisions for New York state and federal housing officials, as well as the federal courts. Parts A and B highlight decisions by state officials as to whether to permit and financially support the policy. Part C frames the subsequent precedent-setting federal court case initiated by the Reagan administration. Funding for this case was provided by an unrestricted grant from Starrett City Associates, Disque. D. Dean, managing partner, who exercised no editorial control.
