Skip to main content
DRAFT FOR ATTORNEY REVIEW — NOT FINAL

Ward v. Downtown Development Authority, 786 F.2d 1526 (1986)

Citation
Ward v. Downtown Development Authority, 786 F.2d 1526 (1986)
Parent Document
Ward v. Downtown Development Authority, 786 F.2d 1526 (1986)
Effective Date
1986-04-21

Other Sections in This Document (36)

Full Text

1,310 chars
We have already held that appellants had a property interest in continued occupancy of their apartments until the DDA complied with the DDA Act. If there existed no decent, safe and sanitary alternative accommodations within appellants’ means that were available to them without undue hardship, appellants may also have been entitled to material relocation assistance. The Supreme Court has recognized that a statute directing a state agency to confer a benefit under certain circumstances may create sufficient interest in the benefit that some amount of due process protection must be afforded to ensure that the benefit is distributed as required, even if the person applying for the benefit does not yet hold it and may turn out not to be entitled to it. Greenholtz v. Inmates of Nebraska Penal and Correctional Complex, 442 U.S. 1, 13-14, 99 S.Ct. 2100, 2106-07, 60 L.Ed.2d 668 (1979) (statute requiring order of release on parole unless one of specified reasons for deferral present creates liberty interest protected by due process guarantees). That the existence and extent of any entitlement to relocation benefits could not be determined until after a factual assessment of the feasibility of adequate relocation does not render appellants’ interest too speculative or unilateral to merit protection.