NEW ORLEANS (AP) — In the latest move to save the aging brick complexes that make up New Orleans public housing, former residents on Friday asked a federal judge to halt any demolition plans by the Housing Authority of New Orleans.

Residents of the sprawling complexes prior to Hurricane Katrina, filed a federal lawsuit in June, days after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it would tear down the city’s four largest developments: St. Bernard, Lafitte, B.W. Cooper and C.J. Peete.

Only Cooper has re-opened to some residents. All four, however, will eventually be torn down and replaced with ‘‘mixed income’’ neighborhoods.

‘‘Without court intervention, HUD and HANO will be free to destroy much needed housing and leave displaced New Orleanians stranded hundreds of miles from home,’’ said Judith Browne-Dianis, co-director of the Advancement Project, which is helping represent public housing tenants in the lawsuit filed in June.

U.S. District Court Judge Ivan Lemelle has ruled that only certain tenants may sue as a class against HANO — those who have been forced to pay utility bills while living in private market apartments, an expense not placed on public housing tenants before the storm. But the plaintiffs lawyers, led by Loyola Law School professor Bill Quigley, haven’t backed down from trying to stop HANO’s redevelopment plans.

HUD, which has run HANO for several years, has said that its sweeping plans for demolition and rebuilding were always in the works, but that Katrina’s devastation prompted the government to speed up the process. New housing will be better for poor families than rehabilitating the dilapidated complexes, HUD said.

If Lemelle sides with the plaintiffs and halts demolition it will delay efforts to bring ‘‘quality, affordable housing to low-income families in New Orleans,’’ HUD spokeswoman Donna White said Friday.

‘‘We are disappointed that a few individuals are standing in the way of providing a better tomorrow for low-income families of the Crescent City,’’ said White in a statement. ‘‘New Orleanians have been through enough. We would rather spent 18 months with a hammer in our hands than having to sit on our hands in court.’’

About 5,100 families lived in public housing before Katrina. So far, 1,600 families have returned to the remaining brick buildings. HANO has pledged to re-open 3,000 units of public housing by the year’s end, and has announced plans to re-open parts of Lafitte. C.J. Peete and St.Bernard, however

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Information from: The Times-Picayune, http://www.timespicayune.com