Cisneros

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) determined that Washington’s state court eviction procedures satisfy the basic elements of due process, thereby-allowing public housing authorities in Washington to evict tenants accused of criminal activity without first affording them an informal grievance hearing. Yesler Terrace Community Council sued, contending that HUD’s determination is invalid because it was made without giving public housing tenants notice and an opportunity to comment. The district court granted summary judgment for HUD. We reverse.

I

Plaintiffs Yesler Terrace Community Council and Eric Bolden (collectively ‘Yes-ler”) represent a class of tenants in public housing projects in Washington state. 1 Public housing tenants ordinarily may be evicted only after a grievance hearing before the public housing authority (PHA) that administers their residence. 42 U.S.C. § 1437d(k). In cases of eviction for drug-related or certain other criminal activity, however, PHAs may omit the otherwise mandatory grievance procedures, but only if HUD has determined that state court eviction procedures satisfy the elements of due process as defined in 24 C.F.R. § 966.53 (c).…

dissenting:

I do not agree that anyone here has standing to challenge HUD’s action. None of the named plaintiffs is actually threatened with an eviction stemming from drug-related or other criminal activities, nor has Yesler alleged that any of its members are now under such a threat. Indeed, the plaintiffs before us — like the vast majority of public housing tenants in the state of Washington — will probably never face eviction for drug-related or other criminal activities, and thus will never be adversely affected by HUD’s action. The only injury they can allege is that they feel less secure in the possession of their premises because someday they might be evicted without a pre-eviction hearing. This is far too ethereal to constitute “injury in fact” for purposes of establishing standing under Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, — U.S.-, 112 S.Ct. 2130 , 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992).

We might well adopt a more relaxed standing requirement in cases where we know that some individuals within a large group will suffer an injury, but won’t ever be able to identify them with any certainty. One such situation might involve a group of people subjected to an increased risk of cancer because of…