Report: Agency in Alabama city segregated public housing
Updated 4:17 pm CDT, Monday, August 10, 2020
DECATUR, Ala. (AP) A federal review found that a public housing authority in Alabama let white people live in riverfront towers with scenic views and other amenities while segregating Black people in another apartment development without the frills, a newspaper reported.
A Housing and Urban Development study determined that 94% of the Decatur Housing Authority's units in two towers with views of the Tennessee River are occupied by white people, while all the units in a housing project farther from the river are occupied by Black people, The Decatur Daily reported.
The developments provide subsidized homes for low-income elderly people. Minorities on the waiting list to get into the towers were passed over as units there were filled with white people, the report said.
Authority workers repeatedly explained the lack of Black residents in the waterfront buildings by saying elderly Black tenants don't like high-rise buildings and prefer living in "garden-style units so they can sit on their porch and come and go as they please, according to a letter from HUD.
More:
https://www.chron.com/news/article/Report-Agency-in-Alabama-city-segregated-public-15472525.php