Gautreaux Turns 50

Today is an important day for BPI—the 50th anniversary of the filing of the Gautreaux case on August 9, 1966.  Gautreaux resulted in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that stands as a milestone in combating racial discrimination in public housing. The lawsuit, filed by Alex Polikoff, who brought the case to BPI when he joined the organization as Executive Director a few years later, remains active in federal court to this day.  The Gautreaux case reflects decades of commitment and has been at the heart and soul of BPI’s work to achieve a just society.

The lawsuit, which Alex argued successfully before the Supreme Court in 1976, alleged that the Chicago Housing Authority and the Department of Housing and Urban Development violated both the Constitution and 1964 Civil Rights Act through their intentionally discriminatory practices that concentrated public housing sites in African-American neighborhoods. In this context, the Court authorized, unprecedentedly, a metropolitan-wide remedy to desegregate public housing in Chicago.

While the case has helped to change the face of public housing in Chicago, reform national public housing law and policy, and inspire some of the nation’s most innovative housing programs, much remains to be done. Chicago, unfortunately, is is still one of the most segregated cities in the nation, marked by deeply concentrated poverty and its ill effects on housing, schools, employment, safety, and health.

But it would undeniably be worse without Gautreaux, which today plays an important and ongoing role in advancing desegregation and housing opportunity in Chicago.  CHA development plans remain subject to existing Gautreaux court orders, and BPI lawyers play an important role in all aspects of public housing, including the new mixed-income developments, traditional public housing communities, and housing vouchers and mobility.

Looking ahead, BPI will continue our vigorous advocacy to expand housing opportunity and strengthen neighborhoods. While there is no magic bullet or single solution, we remain staunchly committed to the goals that led to the filing of the Gautreaux lawsuit 50 years ago—and to making them a reality for the thousands of children and families we serve.  Justice demands it.