Third Circuit Rejects HUD's Property Disposition Decision in Third East Hills Class Action Filed by Community Justice Project
The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has ruled that HUD’s 2006 foreclosure and disposition of Third East Hills, a project-based Section 8 residential property in Pittsburgh, without a Section 8 contract, violated the Schumer Amendment. Starting in 2005, the Schumer Amendment has been annually enacted by Congress to require HUD to maintain project-based Section 8 contracts, absent limited exceptions.
In Massie v. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, a class action lawsuit filed by the Community Justice Project on behalf of the members of the ownership cooperative, plaintiffs sought to enjoin HUD from foreclosing the property without preserving the project-based Section 8 contract, and from failing to provide relocation assistance required under the Uniform Relocation Act (“URA”).
After the District Court granted summary judgment to HUD, the Third Circuit reversed, ruling that HUD’s 2006 foreclosure and disposition of the property without a Section 8 contract violated the Schumer Amendment. The ruling requires HUD to reinstate the Section 8 HAP contract, and also remands for further fact-finding on whether the tenants were displaced for a federally financed project and therefore entitled to URA assistance.
Plaintiffs were represented by Kevin Quisenberry, Esq. and Donald Driscoll, Esq. of the Community Justice Project.