Image: Hemera

A lawsuit has been filed against the Housing Authority of Winchester, accusing the group of purposely giving housing vouchers to white recipients in order to keep out minorities.

A Housing Authority rule states that recipients of their Section 8 vouchers live in one of 17 towns across the state of Connecticut, according to the lawsuit. Those towns are 91 percent white and 4.5 percent Hispanic, it goes on to say. The town of Winchester, CT is more than 94 percent white. The Connecticut Fair Housing Center has joined the plaintiff in the case, Crystal Carter, an African-American woman.

The plaintiffs also allege that the Housing Authority had in place “illegal residency requirements.”

“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 there,” the lawsuit reads. Carter was applying from Hartford, CT, so the Winchester Housing Authority wouldn’t even send her a Section 8 application. Now the organization says it will change its policy. Well isn’t that decent of them? Nothing like a lawsuit to spur change.

Here’s information about the Section 8 program and its policies, FYI.