A federal court has prohibited the City of Springfield from enforcing a local zoning ordinance which banned people living with disabilities from living in homes within 600 feet of one another if such a home has five or less residents.
As noted by Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, “Discriminatory zoning laws that ban people with disabilities from living in the community violate the Fair Housing Act,”
“Restrictive zoning laws and policies that prevent people with disabilities from integrating into society at large have no place in our marketplace today. The Court’s decision makes clear that there are real consequences to cities and other municipalities when they unlawfully and immorally exclude people with disabilities from residential neighborhoods.”
In 2017 the Justice Department sued after the city attempted to enforce the ordinance against a Community Integrated Living Arrangement (CILA) in which three disabled residents were housed together in a single-family home. The residents received services in their home from the Individual Advocacy Group (IAG), a state-licensed residential service agency.
The three people had lived in the home since 2014, in compliance with broader state housing requirements. But in 2016 the City of Springfield targeted their CILA to be shut down under the zoning ordinance.
That prompted the office of the U.S. District for Central Illinois to sue on behalf of the residents and the IAG.
The court’s permanent injunction against the city ordinance follows a 2020 ruling that its enforcement had violated the Fair Housing Act. A later jury trial then determined the city must pay almost $300,000 in damages. $162,000 will be award as compensation to the home’s residents and their guardians, and the rest shall go towards the Individual Advocacy Group. The City of Springfield is also required to undergo fair housing training and owes $53,654.50 in prejudgment interest on the jury’s damage awards to the IAG.
Additionally, the court also charged the City $61,982.50 in civil penalties for its violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA). The Court explains that the penalty serves to “make clear to municipalities that these facially discriminatory spacing rules may not be used to hinder the trend of shifting persons with disabilities from institutions to community-based residences.”
In all, this case constitutes one of the most substantial penalties ever exacted against an Illinois municipality by the Justice Department for FHA violations.
