U.S. Sues Town, Says Renewal Targets Latinos

In a unique case, the U.S. Justice Department accused a Chicago suburb on Friday of trying to drive Latinos out of town by using a state urban renewal plan to demolish homes in their neighborhoods.

A lawsuit filed by the department’s civil rights division alleged that the village of Addison violated the federal Fair Housing Act. The suit asked the U.S. District Court in Chicago to order the suburb to stop destroying homes in two Latino neighborhoods and to pay damages to displaced victims, punitive damages and civil fines.

The working-class suburb, 18 miles west of Chicago, implemented a scheme to reduce the number of Latino families through its use of Illinois’ Tax Increment Financing Plan, which is designed to redevelop land and expand local tax bases, the lawsuit alleges.

The acting mayor of Addison, Larry Hartwig, countered: “It is just completely false that we are trying to get these people out of our town. They’re an important part of our community, and they’re an important part of our work force.”

Under the state plan, a municipality can use eminent domain proceedings to acquire private property, such as apartment buildings, that it has designated as blighted. The municipality can then raze the buildings and give the land to private builders to redevelop in a way that increases the tax base.

The state plan is often used to redevelop commercial property, rarely to acquire residential property. The Justice Department said in a statement that this was believed to be the first case in which such a program allegedly was used to reduce a minority population.

About one-quarter of Addison’s 32,000 residents are Latino.

Last year, Addison targeted six of the town’s eight census tracts in which Latinos make up at least 50% of the residents, including those with the highest number of Latinos, the government said. Addison tore down eight apartment complexes in the targeted area, displacing 32 families, the suit says.

The suburb halted demolition after receiving a request from the Justice Department to discuss the matter.