Federal officials depicted a startling account of racism and discrimination at a North Texas homeowners association: Racial slurs flooding neighborhood Facebook pages as white supremacist organizations passed out flyers.
A years-long investigation found Providence Village Homeowners Association, a small community in Denton County, tried to kick out residents who receive government assistance to pay rent, nearly all of whom were Black. In January, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development referred the case to the Justice Department for litigation.
One month later, the agency withdrew the case with no explanation, leaving the investigation in limbo. As a result, members of the homeowners association could face no government penalties, and alleged victims could receive no compensation, according to the nonprofit journalism organization ProPublica, which first reported on the development.
Housing advocates say the withdrawal is unprecedented and could signal a rollback of civil rights enforcement at the agency under President Donald Trump and HUD Secretary Scott Turner, who is from Texas.
“People are seriously concerned about whether federal fair housing enforcement is in jeopardy,” Sara Pratt, a former HUD official and attorney with Relman Colfax, which represents the Denton Housing Authority, told The Dallas Morning News on Wednesday.
According to ProPublica, the agency also withdrew a case against a Texas state agency accused of steering $1 billion in disaster relief from Houston and nearby communities of color after Hurricane Harvey devastated the region in 2017.
The decision to withdraw such cases aligns with the new administration’s priorities. Under Trump, the housing agency paused at least $60 million in funding intended largely for affordable housing developments nationwide, throwing hundreds of projects into limbo. In January, the Justice Department ordered a freeze on all civil rights litigation.
Representatives for HUD and the Department of Justice did not respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment Wednesday.
Providence Village is about an hour north of Dallas with 9,000 residents, a swimming pool, pavilions and small lakes and trails. In recent years, the community has grown more diverse, with the share of white homeowners falling from 92% in 2018 to 77% in 2022.
Controversy erupted in 2021 when two teenagers, one Black and one white, got into a fight, according to federal court documents. Some residents blamed housing voucher recipients for what they saw as an increase in crime. At the time of the fight, about 4% of households in the village paid rent with federal housing vouchers. Of those, more than 90% were Black, according to HUD.
Over the next several months, some residents drafted an amendment to ban residents who pay rent with government subsidies and fine landlords $300 a week until those renters are gone. The association’s president, Jennifer Dautrich, organized a committee of two dozen homeowners who went door to door to persuade others to vote for the amendment, and organizers inundated homeowners with daily automated email reminders to vote.
Racist posts filled the town’s social media pages, calling housing voucher recipients “wild animals” and “lazy entitled leeching TR@SH.” Although the pages were unofficial, many of the HOA’s board members belonged to the groups and regularly interacted.
On two separate occasions, a white supremacist organization protested outside the development, handing out flyers that said voucher recipients were bringing “unimaginable violence.” They also delivered flyers to people’s homes that said, “Blacks bring crime and violence.”
Both the homeowners association board and property management company, FirstService Residential, knew of the various threats but did little to address them, court documents allege. Providence Village did not respond to emails or phone calls Wednesday from The News seeking comment. FirstService Residential said in an email it denies the allegations.
Mitch Little, an attorney for Dautrich, the HOA board president, told The News in an email that HUD withdrew the case because “there was nothing to pursue. The claim was completely baseless and meritless.”
In late May 2022, the HOA’s amendment won enough votes, threatening to displace about 600 residents; roughly 93% were Black, and all but five households were led by women. Fearing homelessness if they were evicted, at least 19 households moved from Providence Village, according to court documents. Some lost wages, and even their jobs, to take time off to move. Others felt unsafe due to the rhetoric and purchased security cameras.
Stephen Smith moved with his family to Providence Village in 2021, following an injury he received while working as a truck driver during the Covid-19 pandemic. He said he turned to housing assistance not as a handout, but as a temporary support system while he recovered. Smith still lives in Providence Village with his family, including three sons, ages 15, 12 and 8.
“Instead of stability, disabled Americans, Black Americans, veterans, and working families have faced harassment, intimidation and unlawful discrimination simply for using legal housing assistance,” Smith wrote in an email Wednesday to The News.
The HOA’s rule drew ire from affordable housing activists, residents and landlords, who filed 53 complaints with HUD. The Texas Legislature in 2023 passed a law prohibiting HOAs from discriminating against tenants based on their method of payment. The law, pushed by Texas Rep. Chris Turner, a Grand Prairie Democrat, was considered a rare but big win for low-income Texans.
Providence Village said it would comply with the law and backed off its plan, even as many of the residents already moved out.
Yet federal officials previously said that did not happen. Instead, the homeowners association board met to discuss alternative ways to get rid of voucher holders, court documents say. In May 2024, the board passed a rule limiting owners to one rental property apiece. Because most voucher recipients in Providence Village rented from a few large landlords, the rule would have the same effect, federal officials say.
Online threats continued in Providence Village. One social media post said, “Back in the day, when a community didn’t like someone they banned together to make said persons life a living hell to the point they left.” One resident threatened “they might just leave in a coroner’s wagon!!” Still, another post included a photo of a Black man with a rope around his neck. The caption read, “This one is not coming back tomorrow.”
Following the case’s withdrawal, Pratt said she is discussing the next steps with her client.
“The Denton Housing Authority would like to see justice done,” she said. “It would like to see the case move forward.”
Smith said the stalled suit has left his family and others without answers or justice.
“Discrimination is illegal. Targeting disabled Americans and veterans is illegal. Allowing hate-fueled harassment is illegal,” Smith said. “Yet, those responsible still haven’t been held accountable.”
