Overview

Scope and Content

Collection consists of 48 quarterly reports created by the City of Dallas Housing Department to track the progress of the Walker Consent Decree as well as the court opinion, consent decree booklets, report of accomplishments, and the motion final settlement.

On June 25, 1985, Debra Walker, a resident in Dallas public housing, filed a class action lawsuit against the Dallas Housing Authority (DHA) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for a "separate and unequal housing system" that racially segregated public housing projects.  At the time, "92% of black households in the DHA system were concentrated into black neighborhoods where the poverty rate exceeded 40 percent."  Conditions for these units were considered inferior to those of low-income whites that received HUD assistance.

The case was brought before the United States District Court, Northern District of Texas where federal Judge Jerry Buchmeyer approved a Consent Decree that ordered the DHA to desegregate public housing.  Within 20 days of the Decree, a suit was filed against the DHA for violating the agreement when it refused to integrate housing in West Dallas.  On September 24, 1990, the US District Court for the Northern District approved an agreement negotiated between the city and plaintiffs in the lawsuit designated as Walker et al. vs. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.  This deal set out a series of programs and activities to be implemented by the City of Dallas over an 8-year period at an approximate cost of $188 million.  Remedies were implemented between 1990 and 2003, and a final judgment ending the case was granted by Judge Buchmeyer on August 12, 2003.

Organization

Access

Citation

Related Materials

Index Term s

Container List