Accelerating Integration : Effective Remedies in Public Housing Discrimination Suits

This Note examines the different remedies employed by judges to integrate public housing and recommends a standard approach for courts to employ in the future. Part I describes the status of local and federal public housing policy in the United States. Part II examines litigation aimed at achieving the integration of public housing. This Part details short-term remedies employed by judges in several cities and long-term integration efforts by the courts in two cities: Chicago, Illinois, and Yonkers, New York. The Chicago and Yonkers suits exemplify the major obstacles that plaintiffs and judges face in developing appropriate measures to integrate housing. Next, Part III discusses the general problems inherent in housing remedies and suggests three principles to guide judges in devising their orders. Drawing upon these principles, it then analyzes the array of alternatives employed by the courts and measures the effectiveness of these remedies. Finally, Part IV concludes this Note by proposing a standard set of orders that should successfully implement scattered- site housing programs without extended periods of delay.