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- Latest news item posted on 05/13/2008 at 03:23 AM
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Lawsuit filed against Utah county
(DUCHESNE CO., Utah, May 12, 2008)
-- Duchesne County commissioners discriminated against children with mental and physical disabilities and violated the Utah Fair Housing Act in denying applications for group homes in 2005, a new lawsuit claims.
In a suit filed in 3rd District Court this week by, the Antidiscrimination and Labor Division of the Utah Labor Commission accused the commissioners of "a pattern of discriminatory conduct."
The claims stem from three applications for group homes in Duchesne County filed by Uintah Mountain Housing on Feb. 1, 2005. The applications were rejected three days later based solely on "public clamor," according to the Labor Commission.
FULL STORY in The Deseret News
Drug rehab home company sues Calif. city
(NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., May 10, 2008)
-- A mound of litigation related to Newport Beach's fight against drug rehabilitation homes grew larger Saturday with the announcement of a federal lawsuit challenging city restrictions on recovery houses.
The latest legal challenge comes from Pacific Shores Recovery, which is already being sued by the city for allegedly defying a temporary ban on new or expanded detoxification houses, about 75 of which operate in and around the Balboa Peninsula.
In an apparent attempt to undermine the city's case, Pacific Shores says in its lawsuit that the moratorium was discriminatory and motivated by illegitimate outcry from residents who blame rehab homes for savaging community character.
FULL STORY in The Orange County Register
Worker housing gets HUD look
(HUNTSVILLE, Ala., May 10, 2008)
-- Federal fair-housing agents were here this week investigating the living conditions of more than 1,000 foreign workers employed at Cinram's DVD plant in northeast Huntsville.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development this spring began its inquiry into the rent and housing standards for the workers; some paid as much as $300 per person per month for a bed in an apartment shared by up to five and six workers.
"HUD has been here all week. They just went home," said Jerry Burnet, housing chair of the state NAACP, on Friday. "They just wrapped it up this morning."
The NAACP and the nonprofit Fair Housing Center of North Alabama initiated the investigation here and sent their initial findings to HUD. Investigators at HUD's regional office in Atlanta took up the matter in late March.
FULL STORY in The Huntsville Times
Abuse victims face bias, study says
(WASHINGTON, May 08, 2008)
-- A new study has found that victims of domestic abuse are likely to face discrimination when seeking rental housing in the District, despite a law prohibiting such bias.
The investigation was initiated by the Equal Rights Center, a Washington fair-housing advocacy group that has conducted civil-rights testing for 25 years. The study, done in January and February, covered 93 rental properties. It found that in 65 percent of the cases of domestic-abuse victims seeking housing, they were denied it outright or offered disadvantageous conditions to get an apartment.
The study was intended to calculate the extent of the problem one year after a law took effect in the District to protect victims of domestic violence from being denied rental housing, said Rabbi Bruce E. Kahn, the center's executive director. The legislation was designed, in part, to stem homelessness among women and children, who make up about half the city's homeless population. The leading cause of homelessness among women is domestic violence, advocates say.
FULL STORY in The Washington Post
Student apartment complex sued for alleged discrimination
(BOISE, Idaho, May 08, 2008)
-- A Twin Falls apartment complex that caters to students at the College of Southern Idaho is being sued by the Intermountain Fair Housing Council in federal court.
The nonprofit housing council contends that the 12-unit Caliber Courts apartments and its owner Debbie Broadie committed gender discrimination by prohibiting tenants from having overnight guests of the opposite gender.
FULL STORY at montanasnewsstation.com
Justice Department files fair housing lawsuit against city of Satsuma, Alabama
(WASHINGTON, May 08, 2008)
-- The Justice Department today sued the City of Satsuma, Ala., for violating the Fair Housing Act
when the city refused to allow three women with disabilities to live together in a group home. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of Alabama, charges that Satsuma refused to make reasonable accommodations in its rules, policies, practices or services, which were necessary to afford the residents an opportunity to use and enjoy their home.
The three adult residents lived in a single-family home with supportive services provided by professional care-givers. The City's zoning ordinance permits five unrelated persons to reside together in single-family homes in
residential zones of the City.
"The Fair Housing Act ensures that persons with disabilities have the right to live in communities of their choice. We will continue to enforce the Act vigorously," said Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.
PRESS RELEASE by the Department of Justice
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