A civil rights lawyer is suing the city of Washington D.C. for the city’s alleged discriminatory housing policies that he says favor white millennial renters over long-time black residents.
DCist reports the suit is seeking more than $1 billion in damages.
The complaint takes aim at the city’s policies that were adopted to attract “creative” workers to relocate there, which lawyer Aristotle Theresa says were so successful that it pushed out Chocolate City’s low and middle-income black families due to skyrocketing housing prices. The city’s black community makes up roughly half the population.
“The city is intentionally trying to lighten black neighborhoods, and the way they have primarily been doing it is through construction of high density, luxury buildings, that primarily only offer studios and one bedrooms,” the suit reads.
The city is being asked to respond by June 25 and so far, officials have said nothing about the suit.
TSR STAFF: Christina C! @cdelafresh
