Hills v. Gautreaux

Hills v. Gautreaux
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 20, 1976 Decided April 20, 1976
Full case name	Hills, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development v Gautreaux et al.
Citations	425 U.S. 284 (more) S.Ct. 1538, 47 L.Ed.2d 792
Prior history	Appeal from the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Holding
Racially discriminatory public housing programs violate the 5th Amendment and Civil Rights Act of 1964, and remedial action to alleviate the effects of such a practice not only is appropriate but also extends beyond city limits to the housing market of the city.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William J. Brennan, Jr. · Potter Stewart Byron White · Thurgood Marshall Harry Blackmun · Lewis F. Powell, Jr. William Rehnquist · John P. Stevens
Case opinions
Majority	Stewart, joined by Burger, Blackmun, Powell, Rehnquist
Concurrence	Marshall, joined by Brennan, White
Stevens took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.
Laws applied
U.S. Const. Amend. V; Civil Rights Act of 1964

Hills v. Gautreaux 425 U.S. 284 (1976), was a decision of the United States Supreme Court.

In this case, a number of Chicago families living in housing projects were awarded Section 8 vouchers allowing them to move to the suburbs in compensation for the housing project's substandard conditions. Carla Anderson Hills was the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; the eponymous lead respondent was Dorothy Gautreaux. The court ruled that the department had violated the Fifth Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The significance of the case lies in the sociological conclusions that can be drawn from it. A number of families chose to move, while others stayed, and Northwestern University researchers studying the two populations concluded that low-income women who moved to the suburbs "clearly experienced improved employment and earnings, even though the program provided no job training or placement services."^{[citation needed]} The disparity arguably proves that concentrated poverty is self-perpetuating and simply alleviating this concentration offers an avenue for improving the quality of life of those afflicted by urban poverty.

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 425

References

• Hills v. Gautreaux, 425 U.S. 284 (1976) Docket num. 74-1047 - April 20, 1976
• 425 U.S. 284 (Text of the opinion on Findlaw.com)
• Waiting for Gautreaux 2006 book by Alexander Polikoff, lead plaintiff's attorney in Gautreaux vs. Chicago Housing Authority et al.