JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SUES DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA FOR FAIR HOUSING ACT VIOLATIONS REGARDING GROUP HOME FOR CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department today sued the District of Columbia for violating the federal Fair Housing Act by refusing to allow four group homes for children with disabilities to open. Each group home would have served the needs of six abandoned or neglected children.

The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that the District unlawfully prevented Father Flanagan’s Girls & Boys Town, a charitable organization, from operating the four group homes by imposing unreasonable and unlawful conditions on their building permit applications. The lawsuit also alleges that the District’s municipal regulations violate federal fair housing laws by imposing burdensome conditions and outright prohibitions on residential facilities for persons with disabilities. These restrictions do not apply to homes for non-disabled persons.

“No city should discriminate against its citizens - especially its most needy children - because of their disabilities,” said R. Alexander Acosta, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “These kids do not deserve to be outcasts, and the Civil Rights Division will vigorously enforce the promise of the Fair Housing Act.”

The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin and disability. This prohibition includes discriminatory land use and zoning practices by local governments and housing authorities. Since January 2001, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has filed more than 100 lawsuits under the Fair Housing Act, including 47 based on disability.

The suit seeks monetary damages for Girls & Boys Town and persons affected by the city’s discriminatory actions and laws, and asks the court to prohibit the city from further discrimination against persons with disabilities.

The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability or familial status. Persons who believe that they have been victims of unlawful housing discrimination should contact HUD at 1-800-669-9777 or the Department of Justice at 1-800-896-7743 or 202-514-4713. Additional information is available at http://www.hud.gov and http://www.usdoj.gov.

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