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| Settlement Housing Fund | |
|---|---|
| Name | Settlement Housing Fund |
| Formation | 20th century |
| Type | Nonprofit; public trust |
| Headquarters | Multiple cities |
| Region served | Urban and rural jurisdictions |
| Leader title | Executive Director |
Settlement Housing Fund The Settlement Housing Fund is an organization associated with urban development, housing finance, public policy, and legal settlements. It operates at the intersection of municipal planning, social welfare, philanthropic trusts, regulatory compliance, and litigation remedies, engaging actors across municipal agencies, courts, philanthropic foundations, and housing authorities.
The origins trace to settlement agreements arising from landmark litigation such as Brown v. Board of Education, Lochner v. New York-era labor disputes, and civil rights-era consent decrees enforced in courts like the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Early precedents include restitution mechanisms created after cases before the Supreme Court of the United States and consent orders supervised by judges in jurisdictions including Cook County and Los Angeles County. Influential policy shifts reflected decisions by municipal entities like the New York City Council, regulatory reforms from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and settlement funds negotiated in federal lawsuits such as those involving United States Department of Justice intervention and consent decrees following cases in the Eastern District of California. Philanthropic partners such as the Ford Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, Rockefeller Foundation, and local community development corporations responded alongside advocacy groups such as National Low Income Housing Coalition, ACLU, Urban Institute, and civil rights organizations like the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
The Fund’s stated aims parallel mandates from judicially supervised remedies, legislative settlements, and regulatory consent decrees: to finance affordable housing projects, implement redevelopment programs, mitigate displacement after eminent domain actions adjudicated by courts including the Supreme Court of the United States in takings jurisprudence, and support compliance with statutes enforced by agencies such as the Department of Justice and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Objectives align with initiatives of municipal authorities like the Mayor's Office of Economic Development in cities such as Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, as well as collaborations with institutions like Habitat for Humanity International, National Community Reinvestment Coalition, and regional housing finance agencies.
Capital sources historically included settlement proceeds from class-action lawsuits litigated in forums like the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and negotiated between parties including state attorneys general offices (e.g., New York Attorney General), insurers represented by firms in the American Bar Association, corporate defendants such as large banks regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and municipal defendants overseen by city councils in jurisdictions like Philadelphia and Cook County. Revenue also derives from municipal bonds issued under statutes like the Internal Revenue Code sections governing tax-exempt financing, grants from philanthropic entities such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, program-related investments from foundations registered with the Internal Revenue Service, and mitigation fees negotiated in environmental settlement agreements involving agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency.
Eligibility criteria reflect standards applied by housing programs administered by agencies like the Department of Housing and Urban Development and state housing finance agencies (for example, the California Housing Finance Agency), and they mirror income thresholds used by programs such as Section 8 and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. Applicants typically include nonprofit developers certified by entities like Enterprise Community Partners and Local Initiatives Support Corporation, public housing authorities such as the New York City Housing Authority and the Chicago Housing Authority, and community land trusts modeled after projects in Burlington, Vermont and Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative. The application process often requires compliance documents similar to those used in federal programs overseen by the Federal Reserve Board for community investment and filings paralleling requirements before state housing finance agencies.
Governance structures resemble nonprofit boards and trustees found in organizations such as the United Way, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and community development corporations associated with city planning departments in San Francisco and Boston. Administrative oversight may involve court-appointed monitors like those in consent decree cases before the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, independent auditors from firms in the Big Four (accounting firms), and fiduciary arrangements comparable to pension boards such as the New York City Retirement Systems. Partnerships with academic centers like the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies and policy institutes such as the Urban Institute support evaluation and program design.
Evaluations draw on methodologies used by organizations including the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, World Bank, Brookings Institution, and research published in journals like Housing Policy Debate and reports by the Congressional Research Service. Impact metrics have tracked units preserved or created, displacement rates measured in studies tied to redevelopment in Brooklyn, Bronx, Oakland, and Seattle, and fiscal performance comparable to municipal affordable housing trusts in Minneapolis and Denver. Independent reviewers have included auditors from the Government Accountability Office and researchers affiliated with universities such as Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, and New York University.
Critiques echo debates seen in litigation involving entities such as the New York State Attorney General and civic movements exemplified by Occupy Wall Street and tenant advocacy groups in San Francisco Tenants Union and Los Angeles Tenants Union. Controversies include accusations of opaque governance similar to disputes over municipal authorities in Chicago, allegations of misallocation paralleling cases investigated by the Inspector General offices, and debates over market interventions reminiscent of policy conflicts in London and Berlin. Legal challenges have been litigated in courts including the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and administrative disputes before agencies like the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Category:Housing finance