A man is taking on Alaska's housing authority alone, and lost round one

A man is taking on Alaska's public housing authority in federal court largely on his own — and this week he lost the opening round. Augustus Fulton-Wiley IV, representing himself and seeking a waiver of the court's filing fees as an indigent litigant, sued the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation under the federal Fair Housing Act, in a civil-rights case the court categorizes as a dispute over housing accommodations.

He had asked for emergency relief — a temporary restraining order to halt something before the case is decided. On July 8, Chief U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason denied that request, along with a preliminary injunction, while granting his motion to move the case on a fast track. The underlying claims remain alive, and AHFC has not yet answered them in court.

It's a lopsided fight. AHFC isn't only a lender; it runs all public housing in Alaska, making it, for many low-income Alaskans, the institution that decides whether and where they live. Whatever Fulton-Wiley is seeking, he's pressing it against one of the most powerful housing bodies in the state — for now, without a lawyer.