Eviction Procedures of Low Income Public Housing Projects Attacked in Atlanta

    President 
Hon, Francis E. Rivers 

PRESS RELEASE Director-Counsel 
egal efense und Jack Greenberg 

Director, Public Relations 
NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. Jesse DeVore, Jr. 
10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 NIGHT NUMBER 212-749-8487 

FOR RELEASE 
MONDAY 
March 20, 1967 

EVICTION PROCEDURES OF 
LOW INCOME PUBLIC HCUSING 
PROJECTS ATTACKED IN ATLANTA 

LDF Represents Indigent Mother of Four 

ATLANTA-=--The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) 
attorneys represented Miss Josephine Williams, an indigent mother of 
four, residing in the Perry Homes, a public housing project in Atlanta, 
Georgia, this week in the U.S. District Court here. 

LDF attorneys Howard Moore and Charles H. Jones, Jr. maintained 
that Miss Williams was denied due process and equal protection of the 
law as a result of the eviction proceedings lodged against her by 
officials of Perry Homes, 

They argued that Miss Williams had no hearing before her 
eviction and that her inability to post a large cast bond before she 
could defend the eviction in a state court denied her equal protection 
available to the more affluent, 

LDF attorneys maintain that this case has wide implications 
because: 

* The regulations of the Atlanta Housing Authority, which allow 
"arbitrary" treatment of Miss Williams, are typical of many of 
those which govern the-2,045 low-income housing developments 
across the nation. 
Some 2.3 million people live in low-income public housing 
developments. 

* In this specific instance, Miss Williams happens to be a Negro, 
but white low-income public housing residents are also exposed 
to the same regulations. 

The Ford Foundation recently bestowed a one million dollar grant 
to the LDF--the largest single grant in civil rights history--for the 
establishment and support of the National Office for the Rights of the 
Indigent (NCRI), 

NORI will handle cases such as that of Miss Williams. 

The involved sequence of events follows chronologically: 
12/8/66: Officials of the Atlanta Housing Authority filed a summary 

eviction notice against Miss Williams. 
12/12/66: LDF attorneys filed a motion to defend Miss Williams in 

Fulton County Civil Court without posting bond, 
2/28/67: Fulton County Civil Court denied LDF motion, LDF attorneys 

filed motion for a stay of Miss Williams’ eviction in the 
Fulton County Civil Court. LDF attorneys filed motion for 
stay of eviction with the Georgia Supreme Court, 

3/4/67: LDF attorneys pre-filed application for stay of eviction with 
Mr, Justice Black of the U.S. Supreme Court. 

3/8/67: Fulton County Civil Court denied LDF motion for a stay of 
Miss Williams' eviction. Georgia Supreme Court denied motion 
for stay of eviction. Mr, Justice Black denied LDF applica- 
tion for stay of eviction. Mr. Justice Brennan of the U.S. 
Supreme Court denied LDF application for stay of eviction. 

3/9/67: LDF attorneys filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for 
the Northern District of Georgia seeking a temporary re- 
straining order and a complaint for a preliminary and per- 
manent injunction. The U.S. District Court granted LDF 
attorneys a temporary restraining order blocking the eviction 
of Miss Williams, and set hearing for March 17, 1967 

3/17/67 and 3/20/67: LDF attorneys appeared before a three-judge 
U.S. District Court in Atlanta in behalf of Miss Williams. 

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