HUD Finds No F.C. Blame

The City of Falls Church agreed last week to a Title 8 Conciliation Agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Equal Rights Center of Washington, D.C., that confirmed it and four local development entities are free from blame against allegations of violations of the fair housing act. The allegations were that the City and the developers sought to discriminate against families with school-aged children in negotiations for approval of The Broadway, a large mixed-use project now in operation, back in 2001.

A cloud of doubt was dispelled by the agreement following almost two years of anguish and negative publicity for the City and the developers involved. In reality, in 2001 the City quickly modified a negotiating tack it took with developers of The Broadway when it was perceived by some to potentially if unintentionally incentivize The Broadway to discriminate against selling housing units to families with school-aged children.

Instead, the City fashioned a policy to encourage a uniform cash contribution per residential unit to its school development fund, regardless of any projections of the family make-up of the units. It has applied that policy since 2002 to negotiations with three more large-scale, mixed use projects that have since been approved. The conciliation agreement signed last week affirmed the merits of that policy and encouraged the City to continue it.

The Equal Rights Center took a complaint of fair housing discrimination by the City to HUD, and HUD's investigation produced the conciliation agreement signed by all parties, including the Equal Rights Center and the development firms of McWilliams/Ballard, Inc., Nova-Habitat, Inc., Waterford Development, LLC, and Waterford Development-Falls Church, LLC.

"The City of Falls Church has always advocated fair housing, and it has always denied any violation of fair housing laws. HUD didn't conclude we did. Fair housing is at the core of what Falls Church stands for," F.C. City Manager Dan McKeever told the News-Press in an interview yesterday.

He said that as part of the conciliation agreement, the City has agreed to partner with the Equal Rights Center to promote fair housing through the development of publications and training sessions that will include participation by the City's development community. In addition, the developers named in the agreement offered to contribute $120,000 to the Equal Rights Center.