Civil Rights — fair housing

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United States Court of Appeals

Civil

Civil Rights — fair housing

A high percentage of African Americans in a public housing complex is insufficient to prove that the housing authority is segregating residents based on race.

“In support of her claim that the apartment complex housed primarily African-American tenants, Stevens cites three pages of her deposition testimony without identifying the portion of the record containing those pages. Our search of the record reveals that only one of the cited pages appears in the record on appeal. R. 62-4, at 15. On that page, Stevens states nothing more than that her unspecified observations were limited to South Bend Housing Authority units, and that she had no knowledge regarding the neighborhood outside of her HASB residence. She does not reference segregation on that page, and says nothing about the racial make-up of the apartment complex or the neighborhood. Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 28(a)(7) requires the appellant to submit ‘a statement of facts relevant to the issues submitted for review with appropriate references to the record.’ Rule 28(a)(9)(A) requires that the argument section of the appellant’s brief contain ‘appellant’s contentions and the reasons for them, with citations to the authorities and parts of the record on which the appellant relies.’ We need not credit Stevens’ version of the facts when the materials supporting those asserted facts are not part of the record. Stevens failed to cite any evidence in the record that HASB engaged in any discrimination in the selection of the apartment site some forty-seven years before Stevens moved in. There is no evidence in the record regarding the racial make-up of the area at the time the complex was built, and no demographic evidence regarding the area outside of the complex at any time. At most, Stevens presents conclusory allegations unsupported by the record that the apartment complex currently houses mostly African- American tenants. Those conclusory allegations are insufficient to meet Stevens’ burden on summary judgment, and the court was correct to grant judgment in favor of the defendants on that claim.”

Affirmed.

10-2724 Stevens v. Housing Authority of South Bend, Indiana

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Lozano, J., Rovner, J.