Showing posts with label Fair Housing Act. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fair Housing Act. Show all posts

Friday, January 26, 2024

Presumption of Discrimination in Virginia Fair housing Law Held Unconstitutional

 In Carter v. Virginia Real Estate Board, (VA Cir. Ct., Jan. 24, 2024), a Virginia state trial court held unconstitutional a portion of Virginia's Fair Housing Law (§36-96.3) that provides:

The use of words or symbols associated with a particular religion, national origin, sex, or race shall be prima facie evidence of an illegal preference under this chapter that shall not be overcome by a general disclaimer. However, reference alone to places of worship, including churches, synagogues, temples, or mosques, in any such notice, statement, or advertisement shall not be prima facie evidence of an illegal preference....

In the case, a realtor's e-mails contained a signature line reading "For Faith and Freedom, Jesus Loves You, and with God all things are Possible." Her e-mails also contained a personal statement reading "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16". The Virginia Real Estate Board began an investigation of the realtor based on these religious statements. The court invalidated this portion of the Fair Housing Law, saying in part:

[This section of the] Virginia Fair Housing Law ... infringes the natural right of individuals to express their identity and, as such, stands in sharp contrast to the freedom of Virginians and Americans to express their identity that lie at the heart of the First Amendment ... and the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom. Moreover, the statute restricts individual expression with a sweeping generalization so broad that any expression of individual identity related to religion, national origin, sex, or race is deemed tantamount to a desire to engage in unlawful discrimination.... Virginia's presumption of animus in the Fair Housing Law inequitably and overbroadly inhibits those rights, and as such, it fails to give the breathing space that First Amendment freedoms require....

ACLJ issued a press release announcing the decision.

Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Church Sues City Over Operation of Ministry for Homeless

Suit was filed yesterday in an Ohio federal district court seeking to enjoin the city of Bryan, Ohio from enforcing its zoning ordinances in an attempt to prevent a Christian church that ministers to the homeless from remaining open 24-hours a day. The complaint (full text) in Dad's Place of Bryan, Ohio v. City of Bryan, (ND OH, filed 1/22/2024), contends that the city has begun "a coordinated effort to exclude ministries from operating downtown." The city has charged the church's pastor with 18 criminal counts for allowing homeless to reside on the property for an extended amount of time in violation of zoning rules. The Church in its complaint contends that the city has violated the 1st and 14th Amendments, RLUIPA, the Fair Housing Act and the Ohio Constitution. First Liberty Institute issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

UPDATE: Friendly Atheist has additional background on the city's concerns regarding the church's activities.

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Supreme Court Denies Review in Christian College's Challenge to Fair Housing Act Enforcement

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday denied review in The School of the Ozarks v. Biden, (Docket No. 22-816, certiorari denied, 6/20/2023). (Order List). In the case, the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals held in a 2-1 decision that a Christian college lacks standing to challenge a memorandum issued by an acting assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The memorandum directs the HUD office that enforces the Fair Housing Act to investigate all discrimination complaints, including discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The school's religiously-inspired Code of Conduct specifies that biological sex determines a person's gender. The school maintains single-sex residence halls and does not permit transgender individuals to live in residence halls that do not match their biological sex. (See prior posting.)

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Cert. Petition Filed in Suit by Christian College Over Gender Identity Discrimination Under Fair Housing Act

 A petition for certiorari (full text) was filed yesterday asking the U.S. Supreme Court to grant review in The School of the Ozarks v. Biden. In the case, the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals held that a Christian college lacks standing to challenge a memorandum issued by an acting assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The memorandum directs the HUD office that enforces the Fair Housing Act to investigate all discrimination complaints, including discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The school maintains single-sex residence halls and does not permit transgender individuals to live in residence halls that do not match their biological sex. (See prior posting.) ADF issued a press release announcing the filing of the petition.

Wednesday, August 10, 2022

Subsidized Housing Family Size Limit Did Not Violate Rights Of Orthodox Jewish Family

In Katz v. New York City Housing Preservation & Development, (SD NY, Aug. 8, 2022), a New York federal district court rejected Free Exercise and Affordable Housing Act claims brought by an Orthodox Jewish family whose applications for an affordable housing unit were denied  because their family size exceeded the apartments' maximum occupancy limit. Plaintiffs claim that their religious beliefs require them to have a large family.  As to the Free Exercise claim, the court said in part:

The Katzes do not claim that Defendants’ policies disfavor acts only religious in nature or that Defendants otherwise showed overt animus in denying their applications or later appeals. Nor do they claim that the maximum occupancy limit is not generally applicable. They thus ask the Court to apply rational-basis review to analyze the occupancy restrictions....

Here, the City has a legitimate state interest in preventing overcrowding in subsidized apartment units. And limiting a unit’s occupancy to two people per bedroom is rationally related to that legitimate interest by setting a numerical cap on each apartment....

Rejecting the Fair Housing Act claim, the court said in part:

Here, the Katzes have failed to plausibly allege that the policies have created a disproportionate effect on Orthodox Jews because they never allege that the occupancy limits have or will result in an underrepresentation of Orthodox Jews in affordable housing lotteries in New York City. That is because at no point does the Complaint compare Orthodox Jews applying for New York City affordable housing lotteries to similarly situated individuals.

Thursday, July 28, 2022

8th Circuit: Christian School Lacks Standing To Challenge HUD Memo On Sex Discrimination In Housing

 In The School of the Ozarks, Inc. v. Biden, (8th Cir., July 27, 2022), the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals held in a 2-1 decision that a Christian college lacks standing to challenge a memorandum issued by an acting assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The memorandum directs the HUD office that enforces the Fair Housing Act to investigate all discrimination complaints, including discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The school's religiously-inspired Code of Conduct specifies that biological sex determines a person's gender. The school maintains single-sex residence halls and does not permit transgender individuals to live in residence halls that do not match their biological sex. The majority said in part:

The Memorandum does not, as the College presupposes, require that HUD reach the specific enforcement decision that the College’s current housing policies violate federal law. The Memorandum, for example, says nothing of how the Religious Freedom Restoration Act or the Free Exercise Clause may limit enforcement of the Fair Housing Act’s prohibition on sex discrimination as applied to the College....

The College’s alleged injury also lacks imminence because it is speculative that HUD will file a charge of discrimination against the College in the first place.... [T]he agency has never filed such a charge against a college for sex discrimination based on a housing policy that is specifically exempted from the prohibition on sex discrimination in education under Title IX....

Judge Grasz dissented, arguing in part that the school has already suffered an injury-- the right to notice and comment on proposed rules. He said: "In my view, HUD’s Memorandum is an interpretative rule."

Tuesday, June 15, 2021

College Seeks Injunction Pending Appeal To 8th Circuit In Suit Against HUD's Transgender Policy On Student Housing

In February of this year, the Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a Directive interpreting the Fair Housing Act as barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. This meant, among other things, that colleges could not discriminate against transgender individuals in access to student housing. College of the Ozarks filed suit challenging the Directive as a violation of its religious freedom rights. (See prior posting.) A Missouri federal district court refused to issue a TRO or a preliminary injunction, denied an injunction pending appeal, and dismissed the case as non-justiciable on the ground that the Directive is a non-binding policy statement.  Now the College has filed a motion with the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals seeking an injunction pending appeal. The School of the Ozarks, Inc. v. Biden, (8th Cir., filed 6/11/2021). (Full text of memorandum in support of the motion.) ADF issued a press release announcing the filing of the motion.

Friday, May 21, 2021

Court Denies Injunction Against HUD's Fair Housing Act Interpretation Of Sex Discrimination

According to the Springfield News-Leader, after a 2½-hour hearing on Wednesday, a Missouri federal district court judge refused to issue a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction against enforcement of a Department of Housing and Urban Development Directive interpreting the Fair Housing Act as barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The challenge was brought by College of the Ozarks, a Christian college that objects to housing transgender females in women's dormitories. (See prior posting.) The judge said that enjoining HUD would not protect the school from liability in a suit by a student who alleges  discrimination.

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Christian College Sues HUD Over Interpretation of Fair Housing Act

Suit was filed last week in a Missouri federal district court challenging a Directive issued last month by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development interpreting the Fair Housing Act as barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The 70-page complaint (full text) in The School of the Ozarks, Inc. v. Biden, (WD MO, filed 4/15/2021), in addition to claiming a number of procedural problems with the adoption of the Directive, alleges that it violates the 1st Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The complaint alleges in part:

1. This action challenges a federal agency directive that requires private religious colleges to place biological males into female dormitories and to assign them as females’ roommates. 

39. The Christian faith is an integral part of life at College of the Ozarks....

57. The College teaches human sexuality is a gift from God....

58. The College teaches that sex as determined at birth is a person’s God-given, objective gender, whether or not it differs from their internal sense of “gender identity,” and it bases this teaching on such Biblical passages as Genesis 1:27, Leviticus 18:22, Matthew 19:4, Romans 1:26–27, and 1 Corinthians 6:9–10.

ADF issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

Tuesday, April 06, 2021

Suit Claims Enforcement of Deed Restriction Against Synagogue Violates Religious Exercise Rights

Suit was filed late last month in a Texas federal district court against the City of Houston seeking to block it from enforcing a deed restriction against a small Orthodox synagogue that meets in a house zoned only for residential use.  The complaint (full text) in TORCH (Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston) v. City of Houston, Texas, (SD TX, filed 3/25/2021), alleges that the city's selective enforcement of the deed restriction violates RLUIPA, the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the federal Fair Housing Act. First Liberty Institute issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

UPDATE: An April 20 announcement by First Liberty indicates that the case has been settled, with the City of Houston agreeing not to enforce deed restrictions against the synagogue and to dismiss citations it has already issued.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Suit Claiming Discriminatory Enforcement of Codes Against Orthodox Jews Moves Ahead

In Indig v. Village of Pomona, (SD NY, Nov. 18, 2019), a New York federal district court refused to dismiss equal protection and Fair Housing Act claims brought by plaintiffs who contend that the Village has enforced municipal codes in a discriminatory manner as part of a broader campaign against Orthodox Jews residing in the Village. Plaintiffs' free exercise and New York Civil rights Act claims, however, were dismissed.

Thursday, August 15, 2019

Suit Challenges Virginia Fair Housing Act Provision Barring Religious Language In Ads

Suit was filed in a Virginia state trial court yesterday challenging a provision in the state's Fair Housing Code which provides that advertisements using "words or symbols associated with a particular religion.... shall be prima facie evidence of an illegal preference under this chapter which shall not be overcome by a general disclaimer." The complaint (full text) in Carter v. Virginia Real Estate Board, (VA Cir. Ct., filed 8/14/2019) contends that realtor Hadassah Hubbard Carter's free exercise, free speech and due process rights were infringed when the Virginia Real Estate Board claimed that she had violated the Fair Housing Code by use of a religious phrase in her e-mail signature line, and a Biblical quotation and a recitation of her religious beliefs on her business website. ACLJ issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

Friday, July 26, 2019

County Sued Over Zoning Denial To Faith-Based Recovery Program

Suit was filed in a Georgia federal district court last week by a ministry offering a faith-based residential program for men recovering from addiction alleging discriminatory action by a county zoning board. the complaint (full text) in Vision Warriors Church, Inc. v. Cherokee County Board of Commissioners, (ND GA, filed 7/15/2019) alleges that the county's denial of zoning approval for operation of plaintiff's recovery program violates the federal Fair Housing Act, the ADA, RLUIPA and the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection clause. ACLJ issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

Thursday, May 23, 2019

Senior Community Management Sued Over Ban on Bible Study Groups and Public Prayer

A lawsuit was filed this week in a Virginia federal district court by a retired pastor and his wife against a senior living community where they lived.  The complaint (full text) in Hauge v. Community Realty Company, Inc., (ED VA, filed 5/21/2019), alleges that the community's management discriminated against plaintiffs on the basis of religion by acceding to demands of other residents to bar plaintiffs' followers from publicly saying grace before their meals, and prohibiting plaintiffs from hosting Bible Study anywhere in the living complex.  The suit contends that management's actions violated federal and state fair housing laws.  First Liberty issued a press release announcing the filing of the lawsuit.

Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Condo's Sex Segregated Swim Hours Violate Fair Housing Act

In Curto v. A Country Place Condominium Association, (3d Cir., April 22, 2019), the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals held that a condominium's mostly sex-segregated swimming hours, adopted in deference to a large number of Orthodox Jewish residents, violates the federal Fair Housing Act. Judge Ambro's opinion focused on the fact that the swim schedule discriminates against women. Weekday evening times were mostly allocated to men.  He concluded:
Women with regular-hour jobs thus have little access to the pool during the work week, and the schedule appears to reflect particular assumptions about the roles of men and women.
He concluded that defendant had waived any RFRA defense, and even if it had not, the condominium association lacks standing to assert the defense.  Judge Fuentes' concurring opinion added:
I write separately to express my skepticism that the pool’s sex-segregated schedule could be saved by a more even allocation of evening hours between men and women. Our jurisprudence makes clear that facial discrimination does not become lawful merely because its burdens are felt by members of both sexes. We would have no problem concluding, for example, that a pool schedule that allocates two-thirds of its hours to swimming segregated by race and one-third of its hours to “Integrated Swimming” would be intolerable under the FHA. And the FHA’s prohibition on discrimination does not distinguish between discrimination on the basis of sex and discrimination on the basis of race.
ACLU issued a press release announcing the decision.

Thursday, April 11, 2019

Judge Overrules Jury Saying No Religious Discrimination By Homeowners Association Was Shown

In Morris v. West Hayden Estates First Addition Homeowners Association, Inc., (D ID, April 4, 2019), an Idaho federal district judge enjoined a Christian couple from hosting an elaborate Christmas display that violates Homeowner Association Rules. As described by the Spokane Spokesman-Review's report on the decision:
On one side, a devoutly Christian couple throwing extravagant celebrations for thousands at a home decked to the halls with 200,000 light bulbs. At times, even featuring a camel and donkey to re-create the Nativity scene.
On the opposite side, a Hayden homeowners association with specific rules that prohibited such excessive celebrations – and the noise that follows – in favor of a more modest showing of holiday spirit.
Despite a jury verdict in favor of plaintiffs, the court ruled as a matter of law that plaintiffs had not shown that the Homeowners Association discriminated against them on the basis of religion in violation of the Federal Fair Housing Act.  Plaintiff had pointed to a letter from the Homeowners Association which described rule violations that would be involved in the Christmas display.  The letter added that some of the subdivision residents are non-Christians.  The court said in part:
While January 2015 Letter was not drafted with lawyerly precision and contained a boorish reference to “undesireables,” it cannot be read as evidence that the Homeowners Association intended to discriminate against Plaintiffs because they were Christian. On this score, the Court notes that several members of the Board were practicing Christians. Furthermore, Board President Jennifer Scott is both a practicing Christian and married to a Christian minister. The Court is not suggesting that Christians cannot, per se, discriminate against other Christians. But, the fact that the Board was at least partially composed of practicing Christians significantly decreases the probability that the Board intended to discriminate against Plaintiffs based on a faith shared by both Plaintiffs and several Board members.
The court concluded that the jury was likely prejudiced by testimony which they were instructed to ignore relating to threats received by plaintiffs from other homeowners who were not Association board members.  Because the decision is likely to be appealed, the court held that if its conclusion of law was reversed, defendants should be granted a new trial or alternatively the jury's award of $75,000 in damages should be reduced to $4.

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

In Settlement Airbnb Agrees To Allow Listing of West Bank Properties

In a press release yesterday, an Israeli civil rights group announced a settlement in  Sliber v. Airbnb, one of a number of suits challenging Airbnb's decision to delist rentals in Israeli settlements in the West Bank. (See prior posting). Apparently the policy was neverin fact implemented.  Under the Settlement Agreement (full text) Airbnb will modify it policies to allow listings of all properties in the area, subject to its Terms of Service.  Sidestepping conflicting claims over claims to the West Bank, the Settlement Agreement says in part:
Airbnb takes on position on the Host-Plaintiffs' claims, or others claims, to legal title to the properties on which the accommodations are located and its standard Terms of Service requires that every Host agree and warrant not to offer any accommodation on Airbnb's platform that the Host does not own or have permission to make available for booking.

Thursday, March 07, 2019

3rd Circuit Hears Oral Arguments In Fair Housing Act Challenge To Sex-Segregated Pool Hours

On Tuesday, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Curto v. Country Place Condominium Association, Inc. (audio of full oral arguments). As reported by Courthouse News Service, at issue is whether a New Jersey condominium association's sex-segregated swimming pool hours, instituted to accommodate the condos' large Orthodox Jewish population, violate the federal Fair Housing Act.

Friday, January 18, 2019

Court Says Fair Housing Act Does Not Bar Sexual Orientation Discrimination

In Walsh v. Friendship Village of South County, (ED MO, Jan. 16. 2019), a Missouri federal district court, relying on a 1989 decision by the 8th Circuit under Title VII, held that sexual orientation discrimination is not covered by the federal Fair Housing Act. At issue was the refusal, on religious grounds, of a senior living community to rent an apartment to a married lesbian couple. Courthouse News Service reports on the decision.

Friday, November 30, 2018

Suits Proliferating Against Airbnb Over West Bank Delistings

Lawsuits are proliferating against Airbnb for its decision last week to delist rentals in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.  In addition to the arbitration proceeding previously reported, a suit under the federal Fair Housing Act was filed in Delaware federal district court. Delaware is Airbnb's state of incorporation. (Reuters). According to JTA, the 18 plaintiffs in the lawsuit either own property in Israel or have rented property there in the past through Airbnb. Separately a suit was filed against Airbnb in an Israeli court alleging discrimination in violation of Israeli law, and a separate suit in Israeli courts against Human Rights Watch for its involvement in Airbnb's action is in the offing. (JTA).