Agency Approves $1.3-Million Settlement at Housing Projects

Without admitting any wrongdoing, the Los Angeles Housing Authority has agreed to establish a $1.3-million fund to compensate Latino and African American tenants at four city housing projects who say they have been subjected to discrimination and abuse.

The agreement, filed Friday in federal court, also provides for the creation of a blue-ribbon committee to survey tenants’ complaints at the housing projects--Jordan Downs, Nickerson Gardens and Imperial Courts in South Los Angeles, and Ramona Gardens on the Eastside.

At the same time, the housing authority promised to review its policies regarding staff-tenant racial compositions, tenants’ grievances, maintenance and security.

The pact ends a lawsuit filed against the housing authority in 1996 by the Watts-Century Latino Organization, the Watts Health Foundation and more than 300 unidentified housing project residents.

Donald Smith, the housing authority’s executive director, said the case grew out of tensions among Latino and African American tenants and staff at the four projects.

Latinos now make up 35% to 45% of the population at Jordan Downs, Nickerson Gardens and Imperial Courts with African Americans making up the rest. At Ramona Gardens, the population is almost exclusively Latino.

The lawsuit, brought by organizations representing both minority groups, accused the housing authority of failing to provide adequate security and services and failing to curb racial hostilities.

The suit charged that the housing projects were “racially isolated” and that those groups who constituted the minority at any project were “mistreated, exposed to acts of violence and denied equal access to facilities and services.”

But in the agreement settling the case, the housing authority disputed those allegations, maintaining that the agency has created many programs to improve the quality of life of all residents, programs that address many of the issues raised in the lawsuit.

“By entering into this settlement agreement, the housing authority does not admit any wrongdoing and continues to expressly deny each and every allegation of the complaint,” the court document said.

Smith, who expressed satisfaction with the settlement terms, said the blue-ribbon committee would be made up of representatives from the housing authority, the plaintiffs and some outside parties, with participation by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Los Angeles Police Department.

The committee’s recommendations, he said, will be presented to tenant councils at each of the projects before any policy changes are implemented.

“We’re very optimistic about this approach,” he said.

Representatives at the Watts Health Foundation and Watts-Century Latino Organization could not be reached for comment about the settlement.