Washington, Aug. 8 (ANI): A town in Connecticut, United States, is being sued for allegedly discriminating against minorities in an effort to keep its black population 'so low that it does not register above zero percent,' according to a federal complaint.
The town of Winchester is 'systematically and unlawfully' working to keep out African-American families by denying them access to federal housing vouchers, known as Section 8, according to a lawsuit brought by the Connecticut Fair Housing Center and petitioner Crystal Carter."We are challenging a pattern of denying minorities fair access to housing," New York Daily News quoted Greg Kirschner, staff attorney for the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, as saying.
Carter, a single mom of six children, joined the lawsuit after she was allegedly told by the Winchester Housing Authority (WHA) that she was ineligible to apply for the housing voucher in the town because she was not already a resident.
The WHA also told Carter "that Winchester was not on a 'bus line', there were no real jobs there, and it was in the 'woods'".
According to census data, 94.4 percent of Winchester's 11,000 residents are white and 4.5 percent are Hispanic.
The number of African-American residents is "statistically zero," according to the complaint, the report said.
The lawsuit claims the WHA is keeping minorities out by enforcing a 'residency requirement' for those wishing to apply for Section 8 vouchers in its 17 communities.
"These requirements are unlawful because in communities with populations that are disproportionately white and or/non-Hispanic they perpetuate segregation by excluding minority applicants who live outside those communities from obtaining housing here," the lawsuit read. (ANI)
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