Wright et al. v. City of Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority (479 U.S. 418)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided January 14, 1987 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 479 U.S. 418 · 107 S. Ct. 766
- Decided
- January 14, 1987
- Term
- October Term 1986
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice White
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice White delivered the opinion of the Court. Petitioners in this case, tenants living in low-income housing projects owned by respondent, brought suit under 42 U. S. C. §1983, alleging that respondent overbilled them for their utilities and thereby violated the rent ceiling imposed by the Brooke Amendment to the Housing Act of 1937, and the implementing regulations of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The District Court, 605 F. Supp. 532 (WD Va. 1984), and the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, 771 F. 2d 833 (1985), concluded that petitioners did not have a cause of action under § 1983. We granted certiorari and now reverse. I — I Respondent is one of many public housing authorities (PHA’s) established throughout the country under the United States Housing Act of 1937, ch. 896, 60 Stat. 888, 42 U. S. C. §1401 et seq., (1970 ed.), to provide affordable housing for low-income people. In 1969, the Housing Act was amended in a fundamental respect: the Brooke Amendment, Pub. L. 91-152, §213, 83 Stat. 389, imposed a ceiling for rents charged to low-income people living in public housing projects, and, as later amended, Pub. L. 97-35, § 322, 95 Stat. 400, provides that a low-income family “shall pay as rent” a specified percentage of its income. HUD has consistently considered “rent” to include a reasonable amount for the use of utilities, which is…
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