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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 59 In 1967, President Lyndon Baines Johnson formed the 11-member National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. It was a tumultuous time. e country had been experiencing riots in each summer for the previous three years. Johnson wanted answers. He wanted to understand the underlying causes of the civil unrest. He tasked the commission with diagnosing the problems and proposing recommendations for the future. e commission did indeed issue a report (informally referred to as the Kerner Report) to the president the following year. eir findings were uncomfortable: "Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, and one white— separate and unequal." e report urged legislation to promote racial integration and to uplift poor areas—primarily through the creation of jobs, job training programs, and decent housing. One month later Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated, the world changed, and the urgency to resolve the social unrest in inner cities became that much greater. Congress responded by passing the Fair Housing Act. Since that day, federal and state governments have struggled with how to enforce the goals of the Fair Housing Act: fair and equal opportunity for housing for all. Recently, two developments have helped to slightly clarify a still hazy picture. THE SUPREME COURT GREEN LIGHTS DISPARATE IMPACT CLAIMS e U.S. Supreme Court ruled by a 5-4 vote in the case of Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. e Inclusive Communities Project, Inc. that disparate impact claims can legally be brought about under the Fair Housing Act. Justice Anthony Kennedy, often the swing vote in Supreme Court cases that are divided between the Court's four liberal and four conservative justices, wrote the court's opinion on behalf of the majority. Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan joined in the majority opinion of the court. Justices Alito, Roberts, Scalia, and omas each filed dissenting opinions. e Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project Case centers on allegations that low-income tax credits were awarded to real estate developers who own property in low- income minority dominated neighborhoods and denied to developers who own property in predominantly white neighborhoods. A district The nation is taking steps to eliminate housing segregation. Will it work this time? SEPARATE AND UNEQUAL » VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 59 COVER STORY FROM THE BENCH INDUSTRY INSIGHT INDUSTRY INSIGHT

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