Town of Huntington, New York, et al. v. Huntington Branch, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, et al. (488 U.S. 15)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided November 7, 1988 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 488 U.S. 15 · 109 S. Ct. 276
- Decided
- November 7, 1988
- Term
- October Term 1988
- Vote
- 6–0
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. The motion of New York Planning Federation for leave to file a brief as amicus curiae is granted. The town of Huntington, N. Y., has about 200,000 residents, 95% of whom are white and less than 4% black. Almost three-fourths of the black population is clustered in six census tracts in the town’s Huntington Station and South Greenlawn areas. Of the town’s remaining 42 census tracts, 30 are at least 99% white. As part of Huntington’s urban renewal effort in the 1960’s, the town created a zoning classification (R-3M Garden Apartment District) permitting construction of multifamily housing projects, but by § 198-20 of the Town Code, App. to Juris. Statement 94a, restricted private construction of such housing to the town’s “urban renewal area” — the section of the town in and around Huntington Station, where 52% of the residents are minorities. Although §198-20 permits the Huntington Housing Authority (HHA) to build multifamily, housing townwide, the only existing HHA project is within the urban renewal area. Housing Help, Inc. (HHI), a private developer interested in fostering residential integration, acquired an option to purchase a site in Greenlawn/East Northport, a 98% white section of town zoned for single-family residences. On February 26, 1980, HHI requested the town board to commit to amend § 198-20 of the Town Code to permit multifamily rental construction…
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