Landmark NJ Settlement Informs Federal Guidelines for Disaster Recovery in Minority Communities

Kevin Walsh, executive director, Fair Share Housing Center, Cherry Hill, NJ

CHERRY HILL, NJ—New rules aimed at ensuring that federally funded disaster recovery efforts protect the rights of minority communities are getting their first test in the response to Louisiana’s current catastrophic flooding—and the guidelines build directly from a landmark 2014 federal civil rights settlement in New Jersey.

That settlement, which the Cherry Hill, NJ-based Fair Share Housing Center, the New Jersey NAACP and the Latino Action Network signed with the State of New Jersey in 2014, fixed serious problems with the Christie administration’s Superstorm Sandy recovery efforts, the Fair Share Housing Center says.