Myron Orfield  (Minnesota) has published Racial Integration and Community Revitalization: Applying the Fair Housing Act to the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, 58 Vand. L. Rev. 1747 (2005).  Here is the Conclusion:

In the aftermath of the mixed result in New Jersey, advocates will likely continue to press this issue until a court applies a consistent interpretation of Title VIII. In re 2003 clearly illustrates the tension between the duty to affirmatively further fair housing and the siting preferences in the LIHTC statute. The court’s finding that the duty applies to the tax credit program now requires state agencies to keep racial data on the tenants and the placement of LIHTC units. The evidence cited above suggests this data will show a racially segregated pattern, which in some instances will be extreme. Once that data is revealed, it may be hard for courts to countenance the existing practices.

Without a policy change, the rolling pattern of suburban resegregation caused, in part, by building government-supported low-income housing in segregated or resegregating neighborhoods will continue to deeply hurt hundreds of communities. These communities could be strong and vital if our housing markets were fair and if the government affirmatively furthered fair housing. This disinvestment will not only destroy the wealth building of middle-class black and Latino households, but will reinforce the white prejudice that creates this pattern in the first place. Crucial to the goals of ending racial bias and supporting racial opportunity is the knowledge that we can know and understand those of another race who today live in two different worlds and experience two very different Americas.

The Civil Rights Act of 1968, which includes Title VIII, is one of the most hallowed accomplishments of American law and shows Congress’s clear objective to integrate American society. Yet as history has shown, without persistent advocacy, even the clearest legislative pronouncements will not enforce themselves. Advocates need to pursue other remedies to further an integrated society. This involves using the federal FHA and state statutes and constitutions, together with a coherent multi-front legislative strategy. This strategy must involve long-term metropolitan integration, principles of opportunity-based housing, and the stabilization of integrated and gentrifying neighborhoods. Housing must be viewed as a clear path toward racial and economic opportunity that holds a real hope for revitalizing cities and older suburbs.