Siting Drug and Alcohol Treatment Programs: Legal Challenges to the NIMBY 

Syndrome

Technical Assistance Publication (TAP) Series 14

DHHS Publication No. (SMA) 95-3050

Printed 1995

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Public Health Service

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Rockwall II, 5600 Fishers Lane

Rockville, MD 20857

Chapter 1—Introduction

All neighborhoods and, most families in the United States today have witnessed or suffered the 

tragic effects of alcohol and other drug abuse. In 1990, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found 

that 40 percent of Americans believed that drug abuse was the most serious problem facing the 

Nation.1 While many people recognize the pervasiveness of alcohol and other drug problems, 

however, such widespread concern has not always resulted in communities welcoming alcohol 

and other drug treatment programs into their neighborhoods. Community opposition—commonly 

known as the NIMBY (not in my backyard) syndrome—often prevents or delays the siting of a 

treatment program. This manual examines the legal remedies available to treatment providers 

who wish to challenge discriminatory zoning and siting decisions that result from the NIMBY 

syndrome. 

The NIMBY syndrome is not new, and it does not arise solely in opposition to alcohol and other 

drug treatment programs. Community resistance is often mobilized to prevent the opening or 

expansion of many types of health and social service facilities, including shelters for the 

homeless, group homes for the mentally ill, halfway houses for ex-offenders, and health-related 

facilities for persons with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. 

The opening of an alcohol or other drug treatment program, regardless of treatment modality, is 

often met by community resistance. Neighborhood opposition has delayed or prevented the siting 

of many treatment programs and even disrupted the relocation of existing programs. 

Unfortunately, even if a program ultimately prevails, the fight can be costly, not only in terms of 

resources, but in its effects on the clients as well. In one instance, a New Jersey town's campaign 

of harassment against a recovery home caused each of the home's residents to relapse.2

A community may battle to keep out alcohol and other drug treatment programs for a number of 

reasons. Residents may fear that property values will decline, and merchants may be concerned 

that crime will increase. The community may believe that a treatment program will bring in 

"outsiders"—perhaps outsiders of a different class or ethnic group. The community may believe 
that there is already an over concentration of services in the vicinity, or it may simply confuse 

the problem's solution with its manifestations. One provider remembers an opponent to his 

program stating: "This program shouldn't be here. There's already a homeless shelter and a 

crackhouse down the street." 

In almost every instance, a community's fear of having an alcohol or other drug treatment 

program located within its borders is unfounded. In reality, treatment programs pose no 

legitimate danger to the health or welfare of the residents, nor do they draw substance abusers 

and pushers to the area. In fact, alcohol and other drug treatment programs improve 

neighborhoods by helping people get well. 

If a locality attempts to keep out a treatment facility through discriminatory zoning ordinances 

and practices, these actions may be more than just unreasonable: they also may be unlawful. 

Federal disability-based antidiscrimination laws (including the Fair Housing Act, the 

Rehabilitation Act and the Americans With Disabilities Act), the equal protection clause of the 

fourteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and many individual State laws have been used 

successfully to overturn the actions of local governments that preclude the siting of both 

outpatient and residential alcohol and other drug treatment programs. 

This manual discusses ways in which an alcohol or other drug treatment provider can use the law 

to challenge the NIMBY syndrome or overcome it through other means. This manual is intended 

to provide technical assistance to treatment providers. While it is intended to be comprehensive, 

it is no substitute for professional legal advice on a specific situation. The interpretation of the 

laws may vary slightly from State to State, and the case law is always evolving. Therefore, it is 

essential that the treatment provider consult an attorney throughout the siting process.The 

information in this manual is presented in the following chapters: 

"Chapter 2—Zoning and Other Requirements That Affect Siting" provides general information on 

zoning ordinances and other codes that affect program siting. While these regulations vary from 

locality to locality, this chapter offers information helpful to understanding the bases for zoning 

ordinances and decisions. It explains variances and special use permits, and it summarizes the 

procedures that such applications might entail. 

"Chapter 3—Legal Challenges to Siting Barriers" describes the Federal laws and constitutional 

protections that a program can use to challenge a locality's refusal to allow the siting of a 

facility. These laws include the Fair Housing Act, the Americans With Disabilities Act, the 

Rehabilitation Act, the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment to the Constitution, and 

State zoning enforcement procedures. This chapter also includes a review of the case law 

developed under each statute. 

"Chapter 4—Applying the Legal Principles" demonstrates the application of the legal principles 

outlined in Chapter 3 to two representative case studies for in-patient and outpatient programs. 

"Chapter 5—Building the Case: To Site or To Sue" starts with the point that lawsuits may be won 

or lost long before they are filed. Using a model developed by the National Institute on Drug 

Abuse, this chapter provides advice on finding allies in the community, assuaging neighbors' 

fears, and averting local opposition. It also helps programs assemble information and 

documents throughout the siting process, which may later prove crucial to building a case.
The primary message of this manual is that while some communities may continue to oppose the 

opening of new programs, alcohol and other drug treatment providers should not be discouraged. 

There are various ways short of going to court to defuse, confront, and overcome the NIMBY 

syndrome. Furthermore, if a treatment provider must file suit, the provider should be confident in 

the knowledge that in case after case, in the face of groundless and irrational community fears, 

treatment programs have won the right to open their facilities and treat substance abusers in 

need.

____________________ 

1Noted in National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (1990), Treatment 

Works, p. 3. 

2

June 1993 telephone conversation between Robb Cowie and Steve Polin, General Counsel, 

Oxford House, Inc.

Chapter 2—Zoning and Other Requirements That Affect Siting

Zoning ordinances are by far the most common barriers treatment programs face in attempting to 

site or relocate their facilities. Sometimes a locality's zoning ordinances are written specifically 

to exclude a facility such as an alcohol or other drug treatment program. Sometimes a locality 

interprets its zoning laws to keep out a program or deny a program the variance necessary to 

comply with the zoning requirements. In either case, a treatment program may face formidable 

obstacles to winning the permission it needs to open its doors. It may even have to engage in a 

prolonged and costly legal battle before it can prevail. 

This chapter discusses how zoning and other ordinances may affect the siting of an alcohol or 

other drug treatment program. It outlines the legal basis of zoning ordinances, explains how such 

ordinances are applied, defines such terms as "special use permit" and "variance," and introduces 

some of the basic concepts central to challenging unfavorable zoning decisions. This chapter also 

addresses other types of codes that a newly opened program may have to meet and attempts to 

identify points throughout the siting process that may require public hearings or otherwise 

present opportunities for community opposition to rally against a program. Advance planning 

can create conditions that enable the director of a proposed alcohol or other drug treatment 

facility to gain community support. 

Legal Basis of Zoning Ordinances

Zoning ordinances are local laws that regulate a landowner's use of his or her property. Zoning 

regulations commonly divide a community into areas where specific types of development are 

allowed to occur. For example, they limit the construction of houses to residential areas, the 

placement of a shopping mall to a commercial zone, the location of a garment factory to a 

manufacturing zone, and the siting of a steel mill to a zone designated for heavy industry. These 

limits are called land use restrictions. In addition to regulating how land may be used, zoning 

ordinances may impose numerous requirements on how a building may be constructed or 

situated on the property. For example, a zoning ordinance might limit the maximum height and 
floor size of a building or require that it be set back certain distances from the road and adjoining 

lots. 

The authority to make zoning decisions is usually conferred upon a local government through a 

city charter, through the State constitution, or through legislation. Such authorization is called an 

enabling act.1 Most enabling statutes are modeled on the Standard Zoning Enabling Act, a 

Federal law drafted in 1922 by the Hoover Commission to provide a benchmark for the zoning 

laws that were springing up throughout the country at that time. 

The existence of an enabling act, however, does not provide a local government with unlimited 

and unchallengeable prerogatives in zoning. Zoning ordinances must have a rational basis in 

their enactment and enforcement. If not, they may be challenged in court on the ground that the 

locality has overstepped its authority, sometimes referred to as the "police power." The police 

power is a legal concept that gives government the right to make decisions that advance and 

protect "the health, morals, safety and general welfare of the community,"2as long as such 

decisions are not arbitrary, unreasonable, or capricious. If a zoning ordinance is unjustifiable or 

has no rational underpinnings, then it is an abuse of the police power and it may be struck down 

by a court. 

For example, a town could prohibit locating a hospital or a nursing home on a floodplain. Such 

an ordinance would be a legitimate use of the police power in that the town is acting out of a 

reasonable concern for the safety of vulnerable residents or to protect important facilities. 

On the other hand, zoning decisions may be open to attack on the ground that they are 

unreasonable if a town chooses to interpret or apply its ordinances selectively or inconsistently.

For example, a court in upstate New York found that a city zoning board arbitrarily and 

capriciously exercised its authority when it denied a drug treatment program's application for 

permission to site a facility, since the program had met all the requirements set out in the zoning 

ordinance and because other similarly classified facilities (including two nursing homes) had 

been allowed to open.3

Zoning and Discrimination

For the most part, a community cannot use its zoning ordinances to discriminate against classes 

of people that it does not want to accept, such as alcohol- and other-drug-dependent persons. 

Courts have consistently ruled that if an ordinance is intended to exclude certain groups from the 

community, or in some cases, if an otherwise "neutral" ordinance has a discriminatory effect, 

then the zoning decision may be voided on the grounds that it violates antidiscrimination statutes 

or rights and protections guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. 

Chapter 3 explains how specific provisions of the antidiscrimination laws and the Constitution 

relate to zoning and discuss their use in challenging zoning decisions. 
What a Zoning Ordinance Entails

Zoning ordinances divide localities into different districts, usually based upon the type of land 

use permitted within each area. For example, one zone might be reserved for multiple-family 

dwellings and another might be reserved for small-scale commercial use. In most instances, the 

ordinance is accompanied by a map that delineates the boundaries of each zoning district. A 

town may have any number of zoning districts, and each district may vary in the diversity of uses 

permitted within it. 

On the whole, the responsibility for zoning rests almost entirely with local governments. This 

means that the specific requirements of zoning ordinances vary from municipality to 

municipality, and the prospects for siting a program in a desired location will depend upon the 

local ordinances governing the use of that land. For example, New York City allows both 

residential and outpatient, nonprofit drug treatment programs to be sited in all residential and 

most commercial zones, but not in areas zoned for manufacturing. Other localities might be more 

restrictive; for example, a town that limits "health care facilities" to a specific kind of 

commercial zone might require a methadone maintenance treatment program to be sited in that 

particular area, along with doctor's offices, hospitals, or family-planning clinics. 

Zoning ordinances typically regulate the following aspects of development:

Site layout (such as setback and lot size restrictions) 

Structural requirements (such as limits on the height of a building, the number of units, and the 

number of occupants per square foot) 

Uses to which the property may be put and any permitted exceptions (for example, an area 

zoned for single-family residences might make exceptions for light commercial structures, such 

as convenience stores) 

Important procedural issues (who determines whether a building plan conforms with the 

ordinance, whether public hearings are required prior to approval, and the mechanisms for 

appealing an adverse determination).4

An ordinance also may describe the purpose and intent of the requirements included in it. Such 

language may be drawn from the "master plan," a statement reflecting the locality's goals and 

objectives for controlling growth (usually developed by the local planning commission or a 

planning consultant). The master plan, which is ideally implemented after public hearings that 

allow the community an opportunity to voice its concerns or approval, provides a coherent 

foundation for the locality's zoning ordinances, thereby protecting it from legal attack on the 

ground of irrational decisionmaking. However, a master plan is not essential as long as the 

locality can demonstrate that its zoning ordinances are the product of comprehensive and 

reasonable decisionmaking. 

Individuals can usually review a local zoning ordinance and the zoning map at the local library 

or planning office. 
Exceptions to Zoning Ordinances

Once a program has selected a potential site on which to locate, it must determine whether the 

use of that site conforms with the uses allowed under the governing zoning ordinance. As noted 

at the beginning of this chapter, most of the zoning problems that treatment programs encounter 

involve complying with (or applying for exceptions to) land use restrictions. 

If a facility conforms with the allowed uses, then it may proceed "as of right." Building as of 

right means building under the assumption that the program to be sited falls within the land uses 

allowed in the zoning district. For example, if an alcohol or other drug treatment program wants 

to open a large residential treatment center in an area zoned for high-density apartments or 

multiple-family dwellings, then it is likely that the proposed facility would fall within that 

classification and would not conflict with the land use restrictions of the zoning ordinance. 

However, the program might still have to meet other criteria in the ordinance, such as site plan 

and structural requirements (though these often are flexible and sometimes can be negotiated 

with the locality's planning or zoning board). 

The locality decides how a proposed development or project should be classified. Usually, a 

town officer (such as a building inspector or a planner) will review the plans for the development 

and make a determination as to whether the plans meet criteria set forth in the zoning ordinance, 

including the land use restrictions. For example, a town could decide that the residential 

treatment center described in the paragraph above is a business and must therefore be located in a 

commercial rather than a residential zone. A program that receives an adverse decision can 

appeal to an administrative body, commonly called a zoning board of adjustment. 

If a program is not permitted as of right on the property selected, the provider may have to ask 

the locality for an exception to the zoning ordinance. Two common types of exceptions are 

special use permits and variances. 

Special Use Permits

Special use permits (or conditional use or special exception permits) allow certain types of 

development in zones where these types would not normally be eligible for siting. The specific 

types of land uses eligible for a special use permit, along with the criteria for approval, usually 

are stated in the zoning ordinance. Special use permits are designed to allow the community 

some flexibility in zoning, while maintaining regulatory control. For example, a community may 

choose to allow day-care centers, gas stations, and restaurants to be located in a residential zone 

through special use permits, so that the residents can have those services close at hand, while the 

community's planners can limit their proliferation and their impact on the neighborhood. 

In reviewing an application for a special use permit, the board of adjustment or the planning 

agency will examine the following issues: 

Whether the zoning ordinance allows the granting of a special use permit for the category of 

land use that is being proposed 

The effect of the proposed development on neighboring property use and values 
The compatibility of the proposed development with neighboring uses and facilities 

The impact of the proposed development on "public health, safety, morals, or general welfare."5

These or similar standards should be included in the actual ordinance, and the provider should be 

prepared to address them in the process of applying for a special use permit. 

For example, suppose a provider is attempting to locate an outpatient facility on a crowded main 

street that is zoned for commercial use and the ordinance requires any "health, educational, or 

social services facility" to obtain a special use permit. It is likely that the board of adjustment 

will be concerned about the impact that the proposed program could have on traffic patterns and 

parking availability. To address this concern, the provider could inform the board about the 

percentage of its clients who use public transportation or it could commission a planning 

consultant to make a trip generation study. 

In addition, the board of adjustment may also be required to hold a public hearing before 

granting a special use permit. If this is the case, the provider should be prepared to encounter 

community residents who may oppose the siting of the program. Chapter 4 describes objections 

that communities typically voice in opposition to treatment programs and suggests strategies to 

allay such fears.

Variances

If a zoning ordinance does not provide for the issuance of a special use permit, a provider may 

want to consider asking the board of adjustment to grant a different type of exception, called a 

variance. There are two types of variances: area variances and use variances. An area variance 

eases the layout or structural requirements that make building on a piece of property difficult 

"due to some odd configuration of the lot or some peculiar natural condition which prevents 

normal construction in compliance with zoning restrictions."6 A use variance allows an exception 

to the land use restrictions contained in a zoning ordinance (for example, if a provider wants to 

open a small residential facility in an area solely zoned for single-family residences and the 

ordinance makes no allowances for any other use through a special use permit, the provider must 

apply for a use variance before it can open its program). 

Variances are most commonly granted where the enforcement of the zoning ordinance would 

result in an unnecessary hardship for the property owner. "Unnecessary hardship" is usually 

interpreted to mean that a strict adherence to the limitations imposed by the zoning ordinance 

would likely deny the landowner a reasonable return on the value of his or her property.7

However, some States allow variances to be granted in instances where the proposed land use 

will contribute to the public good or the welfare of the region (as long as the variance does not 

contradict the purpose and intent of the zoning plan and the ordinance).8This standard is clearly 

more applicable to an alcohol or other drug treatment program than is the unnecessary hardship 

standard, and it is clearly more advantageous, because a treatment program should not have 

difficulty demonstrating that it would provide a public service or address a need in the 

community. 
To obtain a variance, a provider has to make an application to the local zoning board of 

adjustment. This process may be time consuming, and it will likely involve public hearings. 

Since use variances allow exceptions to an existing zoning ordinance without the explicit 

approval of the ordinance, they are often highly controversial. 

Other Barriers To Siting

Zoning laws present the most common obstacles to treatment program siting, but they are not the 

only legal and procedural requirements with which the program may have to comply. Before the 

program can be opened, it may also have to meet State certification or licensure requirements, 

provide an environmental impact statement, obtain building permits and certificates of 

occupancy, and comply with health, safety, and fire codes. 

In some cases, these requirements pose more formidable barriers than do zoning ordinances. In a 

limited survey of 45 alcohol and other drug treatment providers seeking li-censure, the California 

Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs' NIMBY Workgroup found that the number of 

programs needing to bring their facilities up to local fire standards in order to obtain fire 

clearances was greater than the number of programs that identified problems with zoning 

restrictions or community opposition.9In New York State, actions taken by State agencies (such 

as the licensure of a drug treatment facility) must be accompanied by an environmental quality 

review, which includes an examination of a proposed facility's impact on the character of its 

location. Some communities, unable to deny a special use permit or a variance to an unwanted 

drug treatment program, have attempted to exploit the environmental quality review process in 

order to delay or stop treatment providers from siting their facilities. 

In addition, environmental approvals or applications for State licensure may require the locality 

to conduct public hearings or may require the proposed program to submit proof of community 

acceptance. In New York City, all organizations operating facilities under contract with the 

municipal government must undergo an extensive process of public review and consultation, 

called fair share, before opening new programs or expanding existing ones. While this process 

has successfully defused much community distrust and resistance in New York City, publicnotice requirements often provide foes in the community with an opportunity to intervene in and 

influence the process to the detriment of proposed facilities. 

Conclusion

Local zoning ordinances and other regulatory requirements will greatly affect a provider's ability 

to site its program successfully. The provider may encounter instances where a resistant 

community uses zoning ordinances to delay or prevent its treatment program from opening, or 

the provider may face legitimate zoning difficulties that could require it to modify its plans for 

the facility, to apply to the zoning board of adjustment for a special use permit or a variance, or 

to choose another site altogether. 

Whatever the obstacle, preparation is critical. When a provider selects the location for its 

program, it must know the zoning restrictions governing the use of land in that area and the types 

of exceptions allowed through special use permit. The provider should be familiar with other 
aspects of the zoning ordinance: How many residents will the zoning ordinance allow in the 

facility? How much parking must be available for clients and staff? The provider needs to know 

what offices must review its plans: The planning commission, the building inspector, or the 

community board? The provider should be ready with information about the effect that its 

program will have on neighbors and the burden it will place on local services. 

Understanding the process does not guarantee a successful outcome. However, choosing a 

location that is appropriately zoned, meeting with the locality's planners and incorporating their 

suggestions into building plans, attending public hearings and addressing community concerns, 

all improve a program's chances. If the community still refuses to approve the facility, the 

provider has at least complied with all necessary procedural requirements and has begun to lay 

the groundwork for a legal challenge.

1

Susan Webber Wright (1985), Land Use in a Nutshell (Second Edition), St. Paul, MN: West 

Publishing Co., 136. 

2

Ibid., 133. 

3

Vento v. Graziano, No. 87-225 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. April 17, 1987). 

4

John M. Levy (1991), Contemporary Urban Planning (Second Edition), Englewood Cliffs, NJ: 

Prentice Hall, 103. 

5

Peter W. Salsich, Jr. (1991), Land Use Regulation, Planning, Zoning, Subdivision Regulation, 

and Environmental Control, Colorado Springs, CO: Shepard's/McGraw-Hill, 193. 

6 Wright, Land Use in a Nutshell, 146. 

7

Salsich, Land Use Regulation, 195-96. 

8

Ibid., 196. 

9 NIMBY Workgroup, Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, State of California Health 

and Welfare Agency, to Carl Sechrist.

Chapter 3—Legal Challenges to Siting Barriers

It is clear that efforts to site alcohol and other drug treatment programs will not always be 

successful, and legal interventions may be necessary to force local officials to approve a zoning 

variance, grant a special or conditional use permit, implement fire and safety codes fairly, or stop 

interfering with siting plans. Understanding the various legal grounds for challenging an adverse 

siting decision is important at all stages of the siting process. If a provider identifies potentially 

illegal or discriminatory activity early in the process, it can alert local officials and possibly 

persuade them to comply with the law. This will avoid expensive and protracted legal battles for 

all. 
There are several legal avenues that can be pursued to challenge adverse siting decisions by local 

officials or actions by private individuals or groups that seek to block the establishment of 

treatment programs. A lawsuit may be filed in State court to appeal a zoning decision as 

violating local zoning ordinances, State zoning laws, or State constitutional equal protection 

guarantees. A lawsuit also may be filed in State or Federal court challenging a zoning decision or 

some action as discriminatory on the basis of disability under the Rehabilitation Act,1the Fair 

Housing Act2(FHA) or the Americans With Disabilities Act3(ADA). These laws protect 

individuals with disabilities—including individuals with alcohol and drug problems—against 

discrimination in housing, in the provision and enjoyment of benefits and services that receive 

Federal financial assistance, and in any official State or local action. Such official action 

includes, for example, the way in which a local government implements its zoning ordinances 

and health and safety codes or decides whether and where a treatment program may be 

established. Cases may also be brought in Federal court challenging adverse decisions under the 

equal protection clause of the fourteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 

The following legal discussion focuses first and primarily on how programs can use the three 

Federal antidiscrimination laws to challenge refusals to site alcohol and other drug treatment 

programs. These statutes establish general anti-discrimination principles that apply to all zoning 

decisions, regardless of a program's location. They have been enacted for the very purpose of 

challenging actions that are based on irrational fears and stereotypes of persons with alcohol or 

other drug problems—mistaken assumptions that often underlie opposition to the siting of 

programs. In addition, these statutes enable individuals and programs with limited resources to 

initiate legal challenges by permitting the prevailing party to recover attorney fees and many 

other costs associated with litigation. 

The legal discussion also briefly addresses State court actions and constitutional challenges to 

adverse siting decisions. It is difficult to provide more than a general framework for resolving 

disputes in a State court zoning action, because State and local zoning standards vary 

dramatically. With regard to constitutional challenges, few cases will be resolved on this basis 

because most courts will not consider a constitutional claim if a case can be resolved instead on a 

statutory claim—such as a claim under the Rehabilitation Act, the FHA, or the ADA. (It is a 

standard principle of jurisprudence that courts should avoid making constitutional decisions 

unless they are necessary.) In most cases, the statutory claims overlap with the constitutional 

claims and, indeed, provide greater protection, making a constitutional challenge unnecessary. 

Antidiscrimination Laws

The Rehabilitation Act, the FHA, and the ADA are three powerful tools to challenge both 

official and private barriers to siting treatment programs. Taken together, the three laws establish 

the basis for challenging virtually all discriminatory siting decisions. The three laws build on one 

another by applying consistent definitions and nondiscrimination standards. While there is 

substantial overlap in terms of who is protected against discrimination, who can sue and be sued, 

and how discrimination is proved, there are important differences in applying each law. 

It is important to understand the following seven issues when deciding how to apply these laws 

to a particular situation: 
1. Who is protected against discrimination? 

2. What actions constitute discrimination? 

3. Who can be sued? 

4. Who can sue? 

5. How is a claim of discrimination proved? 

6. What are the enforcement procedures? 

7. What relief is given if discrimination is proved?

The following discussion will answer each question for each of the laws. 

Who Is Protected Against Discrimination

Definition of "Disability"

The Rehabilitation Act, the FHA, and the ADA all protect qualified individuals with current, 

past, or perceived disabilities against discrimination. As a general matter, individuals currently 

using illegal drugs are not protected against discrimination under any of the laws.4 However, 

under the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA, even people currently using illegal drugs cannot be 

excluded from or denied health services or services provided in connection with drug 

rehabilitation, if they are otherwise entitled to such services.5Furthermore, individuals with 

current alcohol problems6and those with past or perceived alcohol or illegal drug use problems 

are protected against discrimination under each law, as is anyone participating in a supervised 

rehabilitation program who is not currently engaging in the illegal use of drugs.7

All three laws define "disability"8as—

A physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities 

of an individual, 

A record of such an impairment,9or 

Being regarded as having such an impairment.10

Thus, an individual seeking protection under these laws must prove—

That he or she has a physical or mental impairment—current, past, or perceived—and 

That the impairment substantially limits a major life activity or the attitudes of others toward 

the impairment limit a major life activity (major life activities are such functions as caring for 

oneself, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning, and 

working).11

Drug addiction and alcoholism are considered physical or mental impairments under all three 

laws,12 and most courts have concluded, without much analysis, that an individual with an 

alcohol or other drug problem has an impairment that substantially limits a major life activity.13

Courts that have taken a closer look at this issue in the context of the FHA have identified 

several ways in which alcohol and drug problems affect major life activities:

In United States v. Borough of Audubon, N.J.,14 the court concluded that individuals recovering 

from alcohol and other drug dependencies who sought to reside in a group recovery home were 
"handicapped" under the FHA because they were substantially limited in their ability to live 

independently or with their families. Moreover, because they could not live independently, the 

court concluded that they were unable to care for themselves.15

In Oxford House, Inc. v. Township of Cherry Hill,16 the court concluded that individuals 

dependent on alcohol and other drugs who sought to reside in an Oxford House were 

"handicapped" because drug dependence and alcoholism disrupt personal relationships and 

impair one's ability to advance in education and employment. It also found that such limitations 

continue at least through the early stages of recovery and that an individual's desire to live in a 

supportive, group home setting in order to prevent relapse indicates that these limitations 

continue even after the individual stops using alcohol or other drugs.17

In United States v. Southern Management Corp.,18 the court relied upon the external limitation 

that a management company imposed on recovering individuals, who were prohibited from 

residing in an apartment complex. Rather than examine the recovering individuals' functional 

limitations, the court determined, under the "regarded as" prong, that they were handicapped 

because they were denied the opportunity to obtain an apartment—a major life activity—as a 

result of the management company's perception that they would be undesirable tenants.19

These same analyses can be applied to claims brought under the Rehabilitation Act and the 

ADA. 

"Current" Illegal Use Of Drugs

As noted above, individuals currently engaging in the illegal use of drugs are excluded from 

protection against discrimination under the FHA. As a result, they, as well as programs that treat 

individuals who are beginning the recovery process and may still use drugs illegally, would not 

be able to challenge an adverse siting decision under the FHA, at least on behalf of individuals 

who are still using drugs illegally (see "Who Can Be Sued" below). In several cases brought 

under the FHA on behalf of individuals in recovery, the courts have made clear that anyone who 

resides in a recovery home or a transitional house and seeks to find an appropriate site for the 

program will not be protected if he or she currently uses drugs illegally.20 In addition, to deal 

with community opposition, entities that have sought to establish adult care facilities for 

individuals with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) or to establish recovery homes 

for individuals who are dependent on alcohol and other drugs have implemented clear policies 

that require the immediate eviction of individuals who use drugs illegally.21

The ADA and the Rehabilitation Act to a great extent fill the gap left by the FHA, since they 

protect individuals who currently use drugs illegally to the extent that they seek to obtain health 

services or other services associated with drug rehabilitation. There may be some cases in which 

a private entity could discriminate against an individual with a current drug problem but would 

not be subject to suit under the ADA or the Rehabilitation Act (see "Who Can Be Sued" below). 

The coverage by the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act is very important for purposes of 

challenging adverse siting decisions, since the refusal to site a program would deny health 

services to an individual with a current drug problem. Therefore, even individuals with current 

problems and programs that seek to provide treatment services to them can challenge 

discrimination in siting under the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA. 
To ensure that individuals with drug problems get the maximum protection available under the 

FHA, it is necessary to understand what constitutes current illegal use of drugs. Neither the FHA 

nor the regulations enforcing the act define "current." However, the regulations that enforce title 

II of the ADA—the provisions under which siting challenges would be brought under that act—

do provide a definition that can be applied under the FHA.22 "Current illegal use of drugs" is 

defined as "illegal use of drugs that occurred recently enough to justify a reasonable belief that a 

person's drug use is a real and ongoing problem."23 While the definition is not precise, each 

person must be assessed on an individual basis to determine whether he or she is using drugs and 

whether he or she is likely to do so in the future. 

There may well be a tendency for communities, individuals, and local officials who seek to 

prevent the siting of treatment programs and recovery homes to try to define "current illegal use 

of drugs" broadly and thereby exclude protection for individuals who may have indeed stopped 

using drugs illegally in the recent past. Some may try to establish a blanket period of abstinence, 

such as the preceding 30 days, as a means for determining who is or is not "currently" using 

drugs. However, this approach would be inconsistent with the law, because it fails to make an 

individualized determination and would undoubtedly exclude individuals who have recently 

entered treatment programs and have actually stopped using drugs illegally. 

In addition, courts have examined the relevant time frame for determining whether an individual 

is "currently" using drugs in the context of employment discrimination cases. They have 

concluded that an individual's drug use status must be evaluated at the point in time at which the 

adverse decision is actually and finally made. If an individual was using drugs at the time an 

adverse decision was initiated, but was not doing so when the final decision was made because 

he or she had received or was participating in treatment, the individual would be protected 

against discrimination.24

Applying this principle to the program siting context, individuals who were using drugs illegally 

at the time an initial adverse siting decision was made but who terminated their use by the time 

of the final decision could sue under the FHA. In addition, they could not be denied housing by a 

rehabilitation program that decided to exclude current users in response to community 

opposition. 

Individuals Convicted of Drug Crimes

One other group of individuals is excluded from protection under the FHA: those who have been 

convicted of the illegal manufacture or distribution of a controlled substance.25 As with current 

illegal drug users, these individuals would not be able to challenge an adverse siting decision if it

was based on the fact that they had a prior conviction record. In addition, they could be excluded 

from a treatment program that was facing siting opposition without being able to challenge such 

an exclusion as discriminatory. At least one community that fought the siting of an Oxford 

House in a residential neighborhood used this exception to argue that the Oxford House residents 

were not protected under the FHA and thus could not challenge the adverse zoning decision 

under that act.26
This exclusion is potentially dangerous, because many individuals with alcohol and other drug 

problems have been convicted of drug distribution crimes. However, as with current illegal drug 

users, the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act do not uniformly exclude these individuals, and 

therefore they can fill the gap to protect those in or seeking to enter treatment, even if they have 

been convicted of such an offense. A program would have to prove that such individuals have 

alcohol or other drug problems and are "disabled" (a conviction record is not considered a 

disability under the ADA or the Rehabilitation Act, so the program must prove that the 

individual is disabled by virtue of alcohol or other drug dependence in order to be covered under 

those laws). 

In addition, to the extent that the conviction records of a program's prospective participants 

provide the rationale given for refusing to site a program, the program would have to 

demonstrate that the alcohol or other drug problems of its participants are either the sole or an 

additional reason underlying the adverse decision. This should not be difficult to prove, because 

often communities identify several reasons for making a decision or the facts surrounding a 

decision will point to more than one reason. To prove a case of disability discrimination under 

the FHA and the ADA, the program does not have to prove that the desire to exclude individuals 

with alcohol or other drug problems was the sole reason for the decision; it only has to prove that 

it was a reason. However, under the Rehabilitation Act a program must arguably prove that the 

desire to exclude individuals with alcohol or other drug problems was the sole reason for the 

decision. (See "Proving Discrimination" below.) 

Qualified Individuals With Disabilities

Not all disabled individuals are protected against discrimination under the FHA, the 

Rehabilitation Act, and the ADA. Both the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA explicitly provide 

that only "qualified individuals with disabilities" are protected.27 (A "qualified" individual with a 

disability is one who can, either with or without a reasonable accommodation, meet the essential 

eligibility requirements for receipt of the services or benefits at issue.28) While the FHA does not 

contain such a provision, it has a provision that serves a similar purpose by permitting the 

exclusion of individuals "whose tenancy would constitute a direct threat to the health or safety of 

other individuals or . . . would result in substantial physical damage to the property of others."29

In the program siting context, a disabled individual's qualifications will most likely be raised as a 

reason for not permitting a program to be established in a particular location. Prospective 

neighbors, for example, might allege that persons with alcohol and other drug problems will 

engage in illegal activities, bring drugs into the neighborhood, or reduce the value of property. 

All three laws prohibit decisions on the basis of such stereotypes and thus require direct and 

objective evidence that an individual does not meet tenancy qualifications or qualifications to 

receive a service. 

What Actions Constitute Discrimination

The FHA, the Rehabilitation Act,and the ADA all prohibit a wide range of activities that 

discriminate on the basis of disability. The critical fact for purposes of this manual is that under 
all three laws it is discriminatory to deny an individual or entity the right to site a treatment 

program because it will serve individuals with alcohol or other drug problems. 

All three laws are intended to address—and end discriminatory treatment in—the 

implementation of land use and zoning laws and health and safety codes that have been used to 

construct barriers to siting programs. The specific provisions under each law that provide the 

basis for challenging adverse siting decisions are described below. 

Fair Housing Act

Three statutory provisions of the FHA have been crafted specifically to challenge adverse zoning 

decisions on the basis of disability30: 

1. The FHA makes it unlawful—

to discriminate in the sale or rental, or to otherwise make unavailable or deny, a dwelling 

to any buyer or renter because of a handicap of—

(A) that buyer or renter, 

(B) a person residing in or intending to reside in that dwelling after it is so sold, rented, or 

made available; or 

(C) any person associated with that buyer or renter.31

Congress intended this provision to apply to zoning practices, State and local land use 

requirements, and health and safety laws that make housing unavailable to individuals 

with disabilities.32 The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that zoning and land use 

requirements are subject to the FHA in City of Edmonds v. Oxford House, Inc.33 The case 

clarified that one particular zoning ordinance—an ordinance that defines the number of

unrelated individuals constituting a "family" (which localities frequently use to prevent a 

group of unrelated individuals from living in a single-family dwelling)—is a land use 

requirement that must comply with the FHA, not a "maximum occupancy requirement"34

that is exempt from the act.35

Numerous cases have been filed under the FHA challenging zoning practices, land use 

ordinances, and health and safety codes that discriminate on the basis of disability:

o In Horizon House Developmental Services, Inc. v. Township of Upper Southampton, a 

corporation providing residential services to people with mental retardation challenged 

the implementation of a town ordinance that imposed a 1,000-foot spacing requirement 

on group homes.36

o In Marbrunak, Inc. v. City of Stow, Ohio, an organization of parents of mentally retarded 

individuals challenged the city's zoning ordinance that imposed extensive safety 

requirements on single-family homes housing developmentally disabled individuals.37
o In Oxford House, Inc. v. Township of Cherry Hill and Oxford House-Evergreen v. City of 

Plainfield, group homes for people recovering from dependencies on alcohol and other 

drugs challenged the refusals to provide a certificate of occupancy and a building 

permit, respectively, which were denied because the group homes did not satisfy the 

localities' definition of a "single family" and were not consistent with single-family 

residential zoning.38

o In Casa Marie, Inc. v. Superior Court of Puerto Rico, a residential elder-care facility for 

disabled persons challenged a State court order requiring the closure of the facility on 

the grounds that its operation violated a restrictive covenant and the owners had failed 

to obtain a use variance for modifications to the building.39

o In Association of Relatives and Friends of AIDS Patients v. Regulations and Permits 

Administration, an AIDS hospice challenged the denial of a special use permit to locate 

the facility in an area zoned for agriculture.40

2. The FHA requires entities to make reasonable accommodations that are necessary to provide 

equal housing opportunities. It states that discrimination includes "a refusal to make reasonable 

accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services, when such accommodations may be 

necessary to afford such person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling."41 The 

reasonable accommodation requirement applies to all aspects of housing, including zoning and 

land use requirements.42 Often the refusal to make an accommodation in a zoning ordinance or 

other land use restriction stands in the way of establishing a treatment program. A "reasonable 

accommodation" has been defined in the case law to mean a change that would not impose an 

undue burden or hardship upon the entity making the accommodation or undermine the basic 

purpose the requirement seeks to achieve.43

Numerous cases have used the FHA to challenge localities' refusals to make reasonable 

accommodations in their zoning ordinances and other land use policies when those 

refusals prevented the establishment of residential facilities for individuals with 

disabilities. The following are examples:

o In Oxford House, Inc. v. Town of Babylon, residents in a group home for individuals 

recovering from dependencies on alcohol and other drugs challenged the city's refusal 

to modify its definition of "family" to enable a group of unrelated individuals to reside in 

a single-family neighborhood.44

o In United States v. Village of Marshall, the Attorney General challenged the village's 

refusal to grant an exemption to a State statutory spacing restriction imposed on 

community living arrangements so that a group home could be established for 

individuals with mental illness.45

o In United States v. City of Taylor, the Attorney General challenged the city's refusal to 

expand the number of unrelated disabled individuals who could reside together in a 

single-family zone from 6 to 12 persons so that an adult care facility could continue to 

operate.46

3. The FHA prohibits activities that interfere with the right of a person to live in the neighborhood 

of his or her choice. Under the FHA, it is unlawful to "coerce, intimidate, threaten, or interfere 

with any person in the exercise or enjoyment of, or on account of his having exercised or 
enjoyed, or on account of his having aided or encouraged any other person in the exercise or 

enjoyment of any right granted or protected by section 803, 804, 805 or 806 of this title."47 This 

provision prohibits a wide range of activities that constitute interference: everything from 

egregious actions, such as firebombing an African American's car to drive him a way from a 

previously all-White neighborhood, to actions that involve no violence, but that include 

harassment by neighbors and local officials.48 The following are some examples:

o In People Helpers Foundation, Inc. v. City of Richmond, a corporation that helped find 

affordable housing for disabled individuals alleged interference with its efforts when 

one neighbor made derogatory remarks about the residents, organized other neighbors 

to stand in front of the building to intimidate the corporation's volunteers, 

photographed residents as they moved into the building, and filed reports with the 

police, who investigated the complaints daily.49

o In United States v. Borough of Audubon, N.J., the Attorney General alleged interference 

in the use of a single-family home as an Oxford House when city officials issued weekly 

citations for violations of noise, parking, occupancy, and zoning ordinances and issued 

summonses for running a boarding home, implemented enforcement mechanisms for 

zoning violations that had never been used before, and solicited help from the local 

State senator.50

o In United States v. Scott, the Attorney General alleged that residents of a subdivision 

had interfered with the establishment of a group home for disabled individuals by 

threatening to sue to stop the sale of a dwelling and by subsequently filing an action to 

enforce a restrictive covenant that precluded the use of the dwelling as a group home.51

In any given case, a treatment program may use one or all three of the above statutory 

protections to challenge an adverse siting decision, depending upon the particular facts of the 

case. 

Rehabilitation Act

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act makes it unlawful for any entity receiving federal financial 

assistance to discriminate on the basis of disability. The law provides that "[n]o otherwise 

qualified individual with a disability . . . shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be 

excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination 

under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance or under any program or 

activity conducted by any Executive agency . . . ."52 Section 504 is intended to eliminate 

discrimination on the basis of disability in a broad range of federally supported activities—

specifically, education, employment, housing, transportation, and health and social services—to 

ensure that disabled individuals enjoy the same benefits as individuals without disabilities. 

Indeed, discriminatory zoning decisions made and carried out by entities receiving Federal 

financial assistance have been challenged under the law. 

In Sullivan v. City of Pittsburgh,53 alcoholics who were enrolled in treatment programs 

challenged the city's refusal to issue conditional use permits for several existing facilities and to 

release community development block grant (CDBG) funds needed to renovate the facilities. 

Without such permits, the programs would be closed pursuant to a city ordinance. 
While the city's planning department had approved the release of CDBG funds, the city refused 

to issue permits or release the funds because community organizations opposed the program's 

presence in the neighborhoods. The city then filed a State court action seeking to close the 

facilities for failure to meet fire and building codes, which could not be satisfied without the 

Federal funding. After several attempts by the programs' administrator to obtain zoning approval, 

which would have resulted in the release of the CDBG funds, program participants who needed 

treatment services and could not obtain them elsewhere sued under section 504 of the 

Rehabilitation Act. 

The court found that the Rehabilitation Act could be used to challenge the city's refusal to issue 

conditional use permits and CDBG funds. It concluded that section 504 extended to any Federal 

program or activity, including the Federal CDBG program, which would have provided funding 

to the program and benefited the plaintiffs but for the city's discriminatory actions.54

Sullivan is a case in which zoning and Federal funding decisions were linked: the Federal funds 

were to be used to renovate facilities that were at the heart of the siting dispute. It is important to 

note, however, that a locality's zoning and land use process in general confers the type of 

benefit—specifically, being able to site and operate a treatment program in a community—that 

cannot be denied for discriminatory reasons under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, even if 

Federal funds are not at issue in the particular zoning case. As long as the entity making the 

zoning decision receives Federal funding in some form, it cannot discriminate on the basis of 

disability. The treatment program or the clients a program serves need not be seeking the Federal 

funding, as in Sullivan, in order to allege discrimination under the Rehabilitation Act. Thus, a 

treatment program that was denied a special use permit for an allegedly discriminatory reason by 

a city zoning board that receives any form of Federal funding could allege a violation of section 

504, even if the treatment program did not seek or was not eligible for the particular Federal 

funding received by the zoning board.55

Regulations that implement section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act provide several additional 

bases for challenging discriminatory siting decisions.56 The regulations require recipients of 

Federal funds to make reasonable accommodations to the known disabilities of qualified 

individuals unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship.57 This provision would 

impose the same requirements on entities covered under section 504 as those imposed under the 

FHA.58 The regulations also prohibit any recipient of Federal funding from using criteria or 

methods of administration that have the effect of discriminating on the basis of disability.59 The 

term "criteria" clearly encompasses zoning and land use ordinances that preclude treatment 

programs from being established on the basis of disability.

Who Can Be Sued Under the Fair Housing Act: Examples

Case 1

The situation: A group that provides housing to individuals in recovery wants to convert a house that 

had been duplex (each unit housing up to four people) into a single-family dwelling for six tenants. A city 
ordinance limits the number of unrelated individuals who can reside in a single-family dwelling to four. 

The group asks the city to grant a variance to allow six tenants. The city refuses and denies an occupancy 

permit. 

Who can be sued: The city can be sued under the FHA for enforcing an ordinance that has the effect of 

discriminating on the basis of disability and for refusing to make a reasonable accommodation.1

Case 2

The situation: A private, for-profit apartment management company manages six large apartment 

complexes in a community. A long-term residential drug treatment program rents apartments for clients 

who, after being drug free for 1 year, reside together in the community as part of the "reentry" phase of 

the program. The treatment program tries to rent five apartment units for its clients, but is turned down 

by the management company. 

Who can be sued: The management company can be sued under the FHA for refusing to rent to the 

treatment program because of the disabilities of its clients.2

Case 3

The situation: A treatment program has purchased a small apartment building so that clients who have 

completed the first phase of a residential treatment program and are ready to move into the community 

can reside in a "decent" neighborhood. After several clients have moved into the building, the neighbor 

across the street begins to take pictures of all the residents and to gather other neighbors together to 

monitor the residents' every movement. The neighbor complains daily to city officials about the 

"druggies" residing in the house and claims that they are involved in illegal activities. Police investigate 

the complaints and, while finding them without merit, harass the residents and search their apartments. 

Who can be sued: The treatment program can sue both the private citizens and the city (based on the 

conduct of city officials) for interfering with the recovering individuals residing in the apartment 

building.3

____________________ 

1

See Parish of Jefferson v. Allied Health Care, 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9124 (E.D. La. June 10, 1992). 
2 United States v. Southern Management Corp., 955 F. 2d 914 (4th Cir. 1992). 

3

People Helpers, Inc. v. City of Richmond, 789 F. Supp. 725 (E.D. Va. 1992). 

Americans With Disabilities Act

Title II of the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by any public entity, such 

as a State or local government or any unit of the governing body. The law provides that "no 

qualified individual with a disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded from 

participation in or be denied the benefits of the services, programs, or activities of a public entity, 

or be subjected to discrimination by any such entity."60 Title II is intended to end discrimination 

by State and local governments in the same areas of life as the Rehabilitation Act: education, 

housing, employment, transportation, health, and social services.61 However, title II of the ADA 

has a greater reach than section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, because it does not require any 

Federal funds to flow into the government entity (as noted under "Who Can Be Sued" below, the 

FHA also does not require any Federal funding link). Therefore, all activities of a State or local 

government must be free of discrimination on the basis of disability. Zoning and land use 

decisions clearly fall into the range of activities that must be implemented in a nondiscriminatory 

fashion. 

In addition to the general prohibition against discrimination, the regulations that implement title 

II of the ADA provide several specific grounds for challenging adverse siting decisions:

As with the Rehabilitation Act, State and local governments are prohibited from using criteria 

that have the effect of subjecting qualified individuals with disabilities to discrimination.62 For 

example, zoning ordinances that define "families" in a manner to prevent unrelated individuals 

from residing in a group recovery home63 or that require treatment facilities to comply with 

spacing requirements64 would contain criteria that cannot be applied if they have the effect of 

discriminating against individuals with alcohol and other drug problems. 

State and local governments are prohibited from using licensing or other arrangements to "limit 

a qualified individual with a disability in the enjoyment of any right, privilege, advantage, or 

opportunity enjoyed by others receiving the aid, benefit, or service."65 This provision would 

enable a program to challenge the denial of a license or a permit to operate a treatment facility 

in a particular location or enforcement of a restrictive covenant because it would limit the ability 

of individuals with alcohol and other drug problems to receive health care services that others 

receive. 

State and local agencies are also required to administer services, programs, and activities in the 

most integrated settings appropriate to the needs of qualified individuals with disabilities.66

Thus, for example, occupants of a group recovery home who were denied an occupancy permit 

in a single-family residential area because they did not fit the locality's definition of "family" 

could sue for not being allowed to reside in the most integrated setting. 

A public entity is also required, as under the FHA and the Rehabilitation Act, to make reasonable 

modifications in policies, practices, or procedures when such changes are necessary to avoid 

discrimination, unless such modifications would fundamentally alter the nature of the service, 
program, or activity.67 Zoning and land use ordinances would be subject to modification in the 

same manner as required under the FHA and the Rehabilitation Act. 

Finally, a public entity is prohibited from excluding or denying equal services, programs, or 

activities to an individual on the basis of his or her known association with an individual with a 

disability.68 According to the Department of Justice's explanation of the regulations, this 

provision is intended to ensure that entities (such as health care providers and employees of 

social service agencies) that provide services to persons with disabilities are not subjected to 

discrimination because of their professional association with these individuals.69 Thus, for 

example, a methadone maintenance treatment program could sue a city under this provision if 

it was denied permission to site or operate a program because neighbors are opposed to 

allowing individuals who are dependent on alcohol and other drugs to come into the 

neighborhood.

Who Can Be Sued

The FHA, the Rehabilitation Act, and the ADA target different, yet overlapping, persons or 

entities that are prohibited from engaging in discriminatory actions. 

Fair Housing Act

The FHA prohibits both public and private entities from discriminating in the sale, rental, or 

advertising of dwellings, in the provision of brokerage services, and in the availability of 

residential-real-estate-related transactions.70 In addition to persons who are actually involved in 

the wide range of activities connected with selling or renting dwellings, third parties who are not 

related to the transaction can be sued also if they interfere with anyone who is protected under 

the law or with anyone who is aiding those protected in their efforts to obtain housing of their 

choice. The FHA does not require any Federal funding link, and it therefore covers a far broader 

range of persons or entities than does the Rehabilitation Act. 

The following are the only people (in terms of siting activities) who cannot be sued under the 

FHA: 

An owner who sells or rents any single-family house, provided that—

o The owner handles the transaction without the assistance of a real estate broker or the 

facilities of any person in the business of selling or renting dwellings, and 

o The owner does not have an interest in more than three single family houses at one 

time

An owner who resides in a dwelling that contains living quarters for no more than four families 

living independently of one another, as long as the owner actually occupies one of the living 

quarters as his or her residence.71

The most common group to be sued under the FHA for discrimination in siting will be localities 

and local officials (such as the city council or zoning board members) who are enforcing zoning 

ordinances that discriminate on the basis of disability or are applying zoning or fire and safety 

rules in a discriminatory manner. However, private corporations can also establish siting barriers 

that can be challenged under the FHA, and private individuals can be sued for interfering with 
the right of disabled individuals to obtain housing. Examples of these cases are provided in the 

box titled "Who Can Be Sued Under the Fair Housing Amendments Act: Examples" at the right. 

Rehabilitation Act

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act prohibits any recipient—public or private—of Federal 

financial assistance from discriminating on the basis of disability (the statute uses the term 

"program or activity" to define the entities that are the recipients of Federal financial assistance 

and, thus, covered under the act). For purposes of challenging siting decisions, the relevant 

entities covered under the law include the following: 

A State or local government department, agency, special purpose district, or other unit that 

receives Federal funds directly from the Federal Government or indirectly from the State or 

locality 

A corporation, partnership, or other private organization or sole proprietorship that receives 

Federal funds.72

The cases in the box titled "Who Can Be Sued Under the Rehabilitation Act: Examples" below 

illustrate these standards. 

Americans With Disabilities Act

Title II of the ADA prohibits any public entity from discriminating in any way against qualified 

individuals with disabilities, including denying them the benefits of the services, programs, or 

activities of the public entity. "Public entity" means any State or local government or any 

department, agency, special purpose district, or other instrumentality of a State or local 

government.73 As with the FHA, no Federal funding link is required. 

Therefore, State and local officials who are responsible for siting decisions can be sued if those 

decisions discriminate against individuals with alcohol and other drug problems on the basis of 

their disability, even if no Federal funds flow into the planning department, zoning board, or 

other agency that makes the siting decision. The city officials described in case 1 in the box titled 

"Who Can Be Sued Under the Fair Housing Act: Examples" above can also be sued under the 

ADA. 

Who Can Sue

The FHA, the Rehabilitation Act, and the ADA all permit both disabled individuals and the 

treatment programs or other providers that seek to serve them to challenge discriminatory siting 

decisions. The FHA contains explicit statutory language that defines the broad range of persons 

who can sue. Under the Rehabilitation Act, cases have established a similar standard, and those 

standards will apply under title II of the ADA.74

Title II of the ADA explicitly protects individuals and entities from discrimination because of 

their association or relationship with an individual with a known disability. This protection 

affords those individuals and entities, such as treatment programs, the ability to sue under the 
ADA. Finally, the Attorney General has authority to challenge discriminatory actions under all 

three statutes (see the discussion under "Enforcement Procedures" below). These general 

principles are discussed in the following sections.

Who Can Be Sued Under the Rehabilitation Act: Examples

Case 1

The situation: A city receives Federal financial assistance in the form of CDBG funds, and the 

city's planning commission has authority to approve applications for CDBG funds. The city's 

planning commission, which oversees the city's zoning, also approves requests for conditional 

use and occupancy permits. A nonprofit corporation that establishes and operates alcohol and 

other drug treatment programs has applied to the planning commission for CDBG funds to 

renovate two facilities for use as a group home and a short-term residential program and for 

conditional use and occupancy permits for both facilities. Although the planning commission 

recommends approval of both the CDBG funding application and the permits, the city council 

refuses to approve either, on the grounds that approval would diminish surrounding property 

values and hinder orderly development. 

Who can be sued: The city, the planning commission, and the city council can be sued under the 

Rehabilitation Act, because these entities receive Federal financial assistance in the form of 

CDBG funds and because they deny disabled individuals, who are qualified to receive CDBG 

funds, the benefit of the community development programs they fund with such dollars, making 

this denial on the basis of those individuals' drug problems.1

Case 2

The situation: A nonprofit corporation that operates group home facilities for disabled 

individuals receives Federal funds under the Supportive Housing for Persons With Disabilities 

Program. The corporation uses the funds to acquire dwellings and finance construction and 

improvement of the sites to expand the supply of supportive housing. A drug treatment program 

is interested in renting one of the recently completed supportive housing facilities as a group 

home for recovering individuals. The nonprofit corporation refuses to rent to the treatment 

program on the ground that the presence of people dependent on alcohol and other drugs will 

lower property values, increase crime, and put the neighborhood's children at risk. 

Who can be sued: The nonprofit corporation can be sued, because it receives Federal funds under 

the Supportive Housing for Persons With Disabilities Program and refuses to permit disabled 

individuals to benefit from that program, basing that refusal on those individuals' disabilities. 

____________________ 

1

Sullivan v. City of Pittsburgh, 811 F. 2d 171 (3d Cir. 1987).
Fair Housing Act

Under the FHA, an "aggrieved person" has the legal right—commonly known as standing—to 

sue.75 "Aggrieved persons" include any persons who claim to have been injured by a 

discriminatory housing practice or who believe that such persons will be injured by a 

discriminatory housing practice that is about to occur.76 Discriminatory housing practices include 

denying housing to any buyer or renter because of "a handicap of (A) that buyer or renter, (B) a 

person residing in or intending to reside in that dwelling after it is so sold, rented, or made 

available; or (C) any person associated with that person."77

In the context of a discriminatory siting decision, two groups can sue as "aggrieved persons": (1) 

the recovering individuals who are or who will be precluded from residing in a dwelling because 

of the adverse decision and (2) the treatment program or group that is prohibited from renting or 

purchasing a dwelling because individuals with alcohol and other drug problems will eventually 

reside in it. Clearly, the FHA has a long reach that enables nondisabled persons and entities to 

enforce the rights of disabled persons to get housing where the nondisabled persons and entities 

face discrimination and suffer an injury—the inability to rent or buy a dwelling—because of the 

disability of another individual. 

Many cases have affirmed that a provider of housing to disabled individuals has standing to 

challenge an adverse siting decision under the FHA, even though the provider is not disabled. 

For example, in Horizon House Developmental Services, Inc. v. Township of Upper 

Southampton,78 the court found that a corporation that provides residential services to people 

with mental retardation had standing to challenge a local ordinance that imposed a spacing 

limitation on group homes. The ordinance precluded the corporation from establishing a new 

group home in the township and jeopardized the corporation's existing homes for not complying 

with the spacing requirement.79 In the context of alcohol and other drug services, the court in 

Oxford House, Inc. v. Township of Cherry Hill held that Oxford House, Inc., a corporation that 

assists in the establishment of group homes for recovering individuals, had standing to sue 

because the township's zoning ordinance precluded the establishment of an Oxford House in a 

single-family residential zone.80

Because the FHA prohibits discrimination in housing, it is also necessary to understand which 

programs and disabled individuals will be able to claim that "housing" is being denied by an 

adverse siting decision. The answer to this question turns on the definitions of "dwelling," 

"dwelling unit," and "residence." 

A "dwelling" is defined as a building that is occupied as or intended to be occupied as a 

residence by one or more families.81 A "dwelling unit" is defined as a single unit of residence for 

a family or one or more persons. Dwelling units include single-family homes, apartment units, 

and sleeping rooms in buildings in which sleeping accommodations are provided but toilet or 

cooking facilities are shared by occupants and shelters.82 "Residence" is not defined in the FHA 

regulations, but it has been defined in cases to be "a temporary or permanent dwelling place, 

abode or habitation to which one intends to return as distinguished from the place of temporary 

sojourn or transient visit."83
The cases that have been brought under the FHA make clear that as long as a program can 

demonstrate that clients will live in a facility for some period, the facility will be considered a 

"dwelling" under the act. It makes no difference that health services are provided in addition to 

housing or that treatment staff reside in the same building, nor does it matter that individuals will 

eventually leave the facility to live elsewhere. The key is whether the facility is or is intended to 

be a place of residence for individuals with disabilities. 

The following are examples of facilities that have been considered dwellings under the FHA:

Oxford Houses, which provide housing for indefinite periods to groups of four or more unrelated 

individuals recovering from alcohol or other drug problems84

A halfway house for individuals recovering from dependencies on alcohol and drugs in which 

treatment program staff reside with program participants, who pay for food, clothing, shelter, 

and supervision85

A nursing home for elderly individuals with severe mental or physical disabilities86

A hospice for persons with late-stage AIDS.87

It seems clear from these examples that residential alcohol and drug treatment programs, halfway 

houses, and providers of transitional housing and group homes for individuals in recovery would 

be able to challenge adverse siting decisions under the FHA because housing is being denied to 

their program participants. Participants in these programs live in the facilities for more than brief 

periods, and while they live in these facilities, they intend to return to them each time they 

leave.88 Thus, the only treatment programs and individuals recovering from alcohol or drug 

problems who could not use the FHA to challenge an adverse siting decision are those that 

provide outpatient services or seek such services. 

Rehabilitation Act

Unlike the FHA, the Rehabilitation Act does not define which persons have standing under 

section 504 to sue to enforce the rights of individuals with disabilities. Therefore, an individual 

or program must satisfy the following three-part standing test to establish the right to challenge 

an adverse siting decision. The individual or program must show that—

1. The individual or program has suffered an injury that is concrete and particularized and that is 

actual or imminent, 

2. The injury is traceable to the challenged action, and 

3. It is likely that the injury will be redressed by a favorable decision.89

This standard was applied in Sullivan v. City of Pittsburgh,90 where recovering alcoholics sued to 

prevent the closing of several treatment facilities that were not in compliance with the city's 

zoning ordinances and to require the release of Federal funds needed to renovate the facilities. 

The court concluded that the plaintiffs had standing to sue under section 504 of the 

Rehabilitation Act because they had alleged a specific harm to themselves in that they would not 
be able to receive treatment if the facilities were closed and they would benefit from the court's 

intervention.91

In the context of siting programs, it is clear that individuals with alcohol or other drug problems 

who seek to enter a treatment program, a halfway house, or some other treatment facility would 

have standing to challenge a zoning decision that prevents the establishment of such a program. 

These individuals would suffer an actual injury by not being able to obtain treatment services 

from which they are intended to benefit. The injury would be traceable to the adverse siting 

decision, and a decision overturning the zoning decision would remedy the injury by permitting 

the establishment of the treatment program. 

In addition, entities other than individuals with disabilities—treatment programs or entities that 

seek to provide treatment services—can sue under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, as long 

as they satisfy the three criteria above. Courts have ruled that organizations of or for handicapped 

persons have standing to sue.92

For example, in Greater Los Angeles Council on Deafness v. Zolin, an organization that was 

established for the benefit of hearing-impaired individuals had standing to sue the jury 

commissioner for failing to provide interpreters to deaf individuals selected for jury duty when 

the organization paid for interpreters and was not reimbursed by the jury commission.93

Similarly, in Williams v. United States, 4 organizations whose purpose included the 

improvement of the quality of life for disabled individuals had standing to sue 41 Federal 

agencies and the Postal Service for failing to promulgate regulations implementing changes in 

the Rehabilitation Act.94

A treatment program that seeks to establish a new facility but is prevented from doing so by an 

adverse zoning decision should be able to show that it has a real stake in overturning that 

decision. Examples of such cases are provided in the box titled "Who Can Sue Under the 

Rehabilitation Act: Examples" at right. 

Americans With Disabilities Act

Title II of the ADA, like the Rehabilitation Act, does not define who may sue, but the same 

standing criteria that are used to determine who may sue under the Rehabilitation Act also apply 

under the ADA.95 Thus, individuals with alcohol and other drug problems and the entities that 

seek to establish treatment services for them can challenge adverse siting decisions under the 

ADA. Individuals would have to prove that they are individuals with disabilities, as defined by 

the act, who have been subject to discrimination on the basis of disability. A program would 

have to prove that it has been harmed (unable to provide treatment services or suffered from a 

loss of funds), that the harm was caused by a public entity's decision (the adverse zoning 

decision), and that the harm would be remedied by a favorable court decision. 

Moreover, the title II regulations provide explicit grounds on which a treatment program can sue 

if it has been denied the opportunity to site a program because individuals who are dependent on 

alcohol and other drugs will use the facility. As noted under "Fair Housing Act" above, a public 

entity is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of an individual's or an entity's known 
association with an individual with a disability. This provision creates the same scope of 

protection as that under the FHA whereby residential treatment programs can sue if they have 

faced discrimination because individuals with alcohol and other drug problems will reside in the 

housing being sought. It also fills a gap left open under the FHA by giving outpatient programs 

the same broad right as a residential program to challenge discriminatory siting practices. 

Who Can Sue Under the Rehabilitation Act: Examples

Case 1

The situation: An outpatient methadone maintenance program has purchased a building in which it will 

establish a methadone treatment facility, but it has been denied the necessary occupancy permit by the 

zoning commission. The program has invested substantial funds in purchasing the building and in 

applying for the occupancy permit, which will be lost if zoning approval is not granted. 

Who can sue: The outpatient program would have standing because it will lose substantial funds as a 

result of the adverse zoning decision unless the decision is reversed. It is important to note that 

outpatient programs will be able to sue under the Rehabilitation Act (and the ADA) whereas they could 

not do so under the FHA, as long as they satisfy the three standing criteria listed under "Rehabilitation 

Act." 

Case 2

The situation: A treatment program is interested in renting six apartments in a federally subsidized 

housing complex and using them as transitional housing for recovering individuals who have completed 

the first phase of a residential program. When the management company learns that the prospective 

tenants would be recovering individuals, it refuses to rent the units and returns the treatment program's 

security deposit. The treatment program has invested funds to locate the apartments and will have to 

invest additional funds to find other suitable apartments. In addition, because the program cannot 

transfer the clients who are ready to move into transitional housing, it is unable to serve clients who are 

waiting to enroll in its residential program. 

Who can sue: The program and its intended participants can sue, even though its security deposit has 

been returned. The program will lose the funds required to locate the apartments and will have to invest 

additional funds to locate other apartments if the decision is not reversed. In addition, the program will 

suffer harm in not being able to provide services to new clients until recovering clients move into the 

transitional facilities.1

_________________ 

1Harm can be economic or otherwise (Data Processing Serv. v. Camp, 397 U.S. 150, 152 
(1970)).

Proving Discrimination

Fair Housing Act

A violation of the FHA's general prohibition against housing discrimination may be proved in 

four ways:

1. A zoning ordinance may illegally single out a group of disabled people for discriminatory 

treatment—for example, by imposing requirements only on individuals with histories of drug 

abuse—and thus be facially invalid. A plaintiff who claims that an ordinance is facially invalid 

would be required to demonstrate that the ordinance discriminates against the disabled by its 

words and is not specifically tailored to carry out legitimate governmental interest. 

2. The plaintiff may demonstrate that the defendants acted with "discriminatory intent" when 

making a decision related to siting. This requires the treatment program or other aggrieved 

person to prove that one factor motivating an adverse siting decision was the fact that the 

program's residents are, or would be, individuals who are dependent on alcohol or other drugs. 

The plaintiff need not prove that this was the sole factor underlying the decision, just that it was 

one factor. Moreover, the plaintiff need not prove that the official action was motivated by a 

malicious or evil intent to harm individuals with alcohol and other drug problems. It is sufficient 

to prove that the decisionmakers improperly considered the residents' disabilities when making 

their decision, whether it was for benign or paternalistic or malicious reasons. This type of a 

discrimination claim is called a disparate-treatment case. 

3. Another way of proving a violation is to demonstrate that the decision or practice, while 

seemingly neutral on its face, has a "discriminatory effect" on individuals with alcohol and other 

drug problems—in other words, the practice has a greater adverse impact on individuals with 

disabilities than on others. This type of a discrimination claim is a disparate-impact case.96

4. As noted above, the failure to make reasonable accommodations in housing policies and 

practices that are necessary to enable individuals with disabilities to enjoy the housing of their 

choice constitutes discrimination. In many cases, the reasonable accommodation requirement 

goes hand in hand with and is considered in conjunction with a disparate-impact claim, because 

it requires neutral rules to be modified if their application results in discrimination. Thus, if a 

zoning practice or procedure has a discriminatory effect on a disabled individual and that effect 

can be cured by modifying the practice, the modification must be made.97

While programs often will be able to prove discrimination in more than one of the above four 

ways, proof of any one is sufficient to win the case. The following discussion provides examples 

of cases in which discrimination was successfully proved. 

Facially Invalid Zoning Ordinances. Some communities, when faced with the prospect of 

opening their neighborhoods to individuals with disabilities, will enact and implement 

ordinances that explicitly limit the right to site housing or care facilities for such individuals. For 

example, a dispersion ordinance may prohibit group care facilities from being located within 

2,500 feet of one another, or a concentration requirement may restrict the number of care 

facilities per square mile. An ordinance that uses a discriminatory classification, such as 
disability, is unlawful in most situations, regardless of whether the underlying motives for the 

decision were benign or malicious. 

The case of Horizon House Developmental Services, Inc. v. Township of Upper Southampton98

provides an example of how zoning ordinances may be facially discriminatory against 

individuals with disabilities and thus violate the FHA. A nonprofit corporation leased two houses 

within 800 feet of each other in a single-family residential area to provide housing to individuals 

with mental retardation. Professional staff were available 24 hours a day to assist residents. At 

the time the corporation sought to use the houses as group homes, the township had no spacing 

requirement or other restrictions on housing for people with disabilities. When the community 

learned that people who were mentally retarded were to live in the houses, neighborhood 

residents voiced opposition and submitted a petition to township officials to stop the Horizon 

House clients from moving into the homes. 

When residents moved into the first house, the township officials enacted an ordinance 

governing group homes for disabled persons, entitled "Family Care Home for Disabled Persons,"

which prohibited such facilities from being spaced within 3,000 feet of one another. The 

ordinance defined "family care homes" in a way to encompass the Horizon Houses: facilities that 

provide residential services to persons who, as a result of age, physical disabilities, 

developmental disabilities, or mental retardation, are unable to live without permanent care or 

supervision by trained professionals. 

The township directed Horizon House to comply with the ordinance by getting a use permit, but 

when the permit was denied, the township suggested that Horizon House apply for a variance. 

After a long and costly process, the variance was denied because the houses were not spaced 

3,000 feet from one another. 

The township revised its spacing ordinance three times over 4 years, changing the spacing 

restriction from 3,000 feet to 2,500 feet and then to 1,000 feet. The ordinance was also amended 

over time to appear facially neutral with regard to disability. For example, the second revision 

eliminated all references to specific disabilities under the definition of "family care home," but 

retained the basic definition that the facilities covered under the ordinance were those that 

provided permanent care or professional supervision. 

Horizon House sued the township, seeking to enjoin it from enforcing the space limitation. The 

court found that the spacing ordinance violated the FHA because it created an explicit 

classification based on disability with no rational basis or legitimate government interest. The 

court noted that the ordinance clearly referred to people with disabilities, even though the 

explicit reference to disabilities was removed in the final version, because it covered only those 

facilities that provide permanent care or professional supervision. According to the court, the 

ordinance discriminated against the disabled because it restricted their housing choices based on 

disability and capped the number of people who could live in the township based on disability. 

The court also ruled that the township had not demonstrated a legitimate reason for imposing the 

space limitation. While the township claimed that the ordinance was intended to prevent 

clustering of the disabled and was therefore benign, the court found that the opposition to 
clustering was based largely on the community's fears of disabled individuals living in its 

neighborhoods. The court also found that integration of the disabled throughout the community 

was not an adequate justification if it was to be achieved through an inflexible distance 

requirement that essentially placed a cap or quota on the number of disabled individuals who 

could live in the township.99

Similarly, licensing requirements that impose unique procedural requirements on establishing 

housing for disabled individuals may violate the FHA. For example, in Potomac Group Home 

Corp. v. Montgomery County, Md.,100 county licensing regulations required a provider of a group 

home for disabled individuals to notify neighbors and civic organizations of the types of 

disabilities of the individuals who intended to live in the group home and to invite comments and 

ongoing input about the compatibility of the home with the neighborhood. This requirement was 

imposed only on group homes for disabled individuals. The Potomac Group Home Corporation 

complied with this requirement when seeking licensure for four group homes and received 

uniformly negative reactions from the community, which stigmatized the residents. 

Although the group homes were eventually licensed, Potomac challenged the county's 

neighborhood notification requirement and several other licensing requirements as violative of 

the FHA. The court found that the notification requirement was facially invalid because it 

applied only to disabled individuals and was not supported by a legitimate governmental interest. 

The court interpreted the county's rationale for the notification requirement—that it would 

facilitate integration of group homes into the neighborhood—as further evidence of the county's 

effort to treat disabled individuals differently than those without disabilities. Rather than promote 

integration, the court found that the notification requirement galvanized opposition.101

Finally, health and safety codes—which frequently impose more stringent fire and safety 

requirements on facilities for individuals with disabilities and thereby make siting prohibitively 

expensive—may violate the FHA as being facially invalid. For example, in Marbrunak, Inc. v. 

City of Stow, Ohio,102 a corporation of parents of individuals with mental retardation sought to 

establish a family consortium home in a single-family residence for four women who were 

mentally retarded. The parents were informed that they had to comply with an ordinance that 

required extensive safety protections for family homes housing people with developmental 

disabilities. The safety requirements included installation of a whole-house sprinkler system with 

alarms, fire-retardant walls and floor coverings, lighted exit signs above all doorways, push bars 

on all doors, fire extinguishers, and smoke alarms. With the exception of the smoke alarms, the 

safety requirements were not imposed on single-family dwellings that were not occupied by 

developmentally disabled individuals. The parents sued the city to enjoin enforcement of the 

safety restrictions under the FHA. 

The court concluded that the safety ordinance violated the FHA on its face and was not tailored 

to the specific needs of the particular individuals. According to the court, the FHA did not 

prohibit the imposition of different standards on individuals with disabilities so long as the 

special protections were warranted by the unique and specific needs and abilities of the particular 

disabled individuals. 
The city's ordinance violated this standard, according to the court, because it did not 

individualize its requirements—such as the safety requirements that would be needed for an 

individual with hearing impairments or those needed for an individual with sight impairments or 

mobility impairments—to the particular type of disability. Instead, the ordinance required 

compliance with all safety features that would be necessary to protect persons disabled by 

virtually all physical or mental impairments. The court concluded that the cost of complying with 

the needless safety requirements amounted to an onerous burden that had the effect of limiting 

the ability of individuals with disabilities to live in the residences of their choice, in violation of 

the FHA.103

Disparate Treatment (Discriminatory Intent). Discriminatory intent may be established 

through direct or circumstantial evidence that an adverse housing decision was motivated in part 

by the alcohol or other drug problems of program residents. In some cases, it will be clear from 

the events surrounding a decision and statements made by the decisionmakers that the residents' 

disability was a motivating factor. In other cases, the decisionmakers will not reveal their true 

reasons, but intent can still be established by applying a five-prong test developed by the courts 

to evaluate the circumstantial evidence. The factors to be examined are the following:

1. The discriminatory impact of the decision 

2. The historical background of the decision 

3. The sequence of events leading up to the decision 

4. Departures from normal procedural sequences 

5. Departures from normal substantive criteria.104

While evidence need not be developed on all these factors, taken together, they help flesh out the 

true intent. 

A case involving opposition to the siting of an Oxford House provides a good example of how 

discriminatory intent can be proved. In United States v. Borough of Audubon, N.J.,105 an Oxford 

House was established in a residential neighborhood. As soon as recovering alcoholics and other 

drug abusers moved in, neighbors began to file complaints about loud music, uncut grass, and 

their concern that the residence was being used as a alcohol and other drug rehabilitation center. 

The neighbors' complaints were mostly that the residents were recovering alcoholics and abusers 

of other drugs, who supposedly would bring drugs in and ruin the neighborhood. While initially 

some neighbors were friendly to the residents, when they learned through a newspaper article 

that the residents were in recovery, they immediately changed their attitude and either ignored or 

glared at them. Several women moved out of the Oxford House because they could not tolerate 

the open hostility. City officials investigated the complaints and told the Oxford House residents 

that they were in violation of town ordinances. They also told the owners of the property that 

they had to vacate the house or apply for a variance to use it as a boardinghouse. 

When the owners did neither, city officials began to issue weekly citations alleging violations of 

ordinances regarding noise, parking, occupancy permits, and zoning. Records from several 

official town meetings revealed that city officials had brought in all branches of the city 
government to deal with the problem and had decided to enforce the law zealously in order to get 

rid of the Oxford House residents. 

Suit was filed by the U.S. Government claiming a violation of the FHA. The court found that the 

city had acted with discriminatory intent. It concluded that the zealous enforcement deviated 

from all previous zoning matters insofar as no citations had been issued for the same violations 

in any other situation for over 4 years. 

Moreover, according to the court, the city's decision to make the Oxford House matter a priority 

of the entire city government could not be explained simply by the fact that the residents were 

too noisy, violated parking rules, or did not constitute a "single family." Finally, the court 

pointed to statements by city officials that revealed their view that Audubon should not have to 

provide housing to recovering individuals. All these facts led the court to conclude that the city 

sought to exclude the Oxford House residents because of their status as recovering alcoholics and 

other drug abusers, in violation of the FHA.106

The Audubon case and numerous others illustrate all too clearly that community opposition can 

play a major role in whether a treatment program will be sited. In many situations, city officials 

who oppose the establishment of housing for the disabled state that they are simply carrying out 

the will of their constituents rather than intentionally excluding disabled individuals. For 

example, the city officials in Audubon argued that their actions were merely a response to 

community sentiment. 

This rationale, however, does not immunize local officials from responsibility under the FHA. 

Many courts have ruled that discriminatory intent may be established if city officials are 

responding to community opposition that is itself motivated by animus against a protected 

disabled group. One court noted that "a decisionmaker has a duty not to allow illegal prejudices 

of the majority to influence the decisionmaking process. A . . . discriminatory act would be no 

less illegal simply because it enjoys broad political support. . . . [I]f an official act is performed 

simply in order to appease the discriminatory viewpoints of private parties, that act itself 

becomes tainted with discriminatory intent even if the decisionmaker personally has no strong 

views on the matter."107 Thus, in Audubon, the court noted that because city officials were 

responding to and, in some cases, agreeing with community opposition that was clearly 

discriminatory, their own actions violated the FHA.108

Disparate Impact (Discriminatory Effect).109 In many cases, a locality will require treatment 

programs or individuals with alcohol and other drug problems to comply with ordinances that are 

facially neutral—insofar as they apply to all individuals, not just those with disabilities—but that 

have the result that individuals with disabilities will be adversely affected and not be able to 

enjoy the housing of their choice. 

To prove that such neutral practices constitute discrimination, a program or disabled people must 

prove that the siting decision or action has a greater adverse impact on them than on others. If 

this is established, the locality is required to demonstrate that there was some legitimate, 

nondiscriminatory reason for its action and that no less discriminatory alternatives were available 

or that a reasonable accommodation could not have been made. 
Some courts also will evaluate two other factors when balancing a city's justification against the 

discriminatory effect. First, the court will examine whether there is any evidence of 

discriminatory intent. Second, some courts will be concerned about whether the program is 

seeking, on the one hand, to enjoin the imposition of requirements that will create barriers to 

providing housing or, on the other hand, to compel the city itself to provide housing.110 Courts 

are much more amenable to removing barriers that will enable people to access housing than to 

requiring a city to provide the housing. 

Several cases provide examples of successful disparate-impact claims:

In Oxford House, Inc. v. Township of Cherry Hill,111 Oxford House, entered into a lease with a 

property management company for a single-family house in a single-family residential zone that 

it intended to use as a group home. As a condition of renting a single-family home, the 

management company was required to obtain a certificate of occupancy, which is issued when a 

property complies with the township's zoning ordinance and property maintenance code. 

The township denied the application for a certificate of occupancy on the ground that the 

Oxford House did not satisfy the township's definition of a "single family" in its zoning 

ordinance. Under that ordinance, the township placed more stringent requirements on 

groups of unrelated individuals who lived together than on groups related by blood or 

marriage. Unrelated groups were presumed not to constitute a single family and had to 

prove that they met an undefined standard of "permanency and stability." Groups related 

by blood or marriage were presumed to be a single family and were not required to prove 

permanency and stability. 

When the certificate of occupancy was denied, the management company tried to sever 

its relationship with Oxford House. However, Oxford House sought and obtained a 

temporary restraining order prohibiting the township from interfering with its occupancy. 

Residents moved into the house shortly thereafter and sought a preliminary injunction to 

further enjoin interference. 

The court granted the preliminary injunction, concluding that the plaintiffs likely would 

prove discrimination under the FHA. According to the court, the township's interpretation 

of the definition of "family" had a discriminatory effect on the plaintiffs, and the 

township failed to accommodate the plaintiffs reasonably by not waiving the singlefamily requirement. The court reasoned that the township placed more stringent 

requirements on groups of unrelated individuals who wished to live together in rental 

property. This had a disparate impact on individuals with alcohol and other drug 

problems, because they would be more likely to need group living arrangements in which 

unrelated individuals live together in residential neighborhoods for mutual support 

through the recovery process. 

Balancing this discriminatory effect against the township's interest, the court found that 

the township did not have a legitimate reason for denying the certificate of occupancy. 

While the township claimed that the group did not meet the standard of permanency and 

stability, the court concluded that the township had not applied that standard, but instead 
had denied the certificate of occupancy simply on the basis of the group members' status 

of being unrelated. 

The court also concluded that the township did not meet its burden of proving that no less 

restrictive alternative was available or that no reasonable accommodation could be made. 

According to the court, waiving the single-family requirement would neither impose any 

administrative or financial burdens on the township nor fundamentally alter the nature of 

the neighborhood. Because the neighborhood already had apartment buildings, duplexes, 

and offices, a group residence would enhance the residential character, not detract from 

it. In addition, throughout the time that the residents had been living in the house, there 

had been no complaints from neighbors about any adverse effect on the surrounding 

neighborhood.112 Therefore, waiving the requirement was a reasonable accommodation. 

In Stewart B. McKinney Foundation, Inc. v. Town Plan and Zoning Commission of the Town of 

Fairfield,113 the plaintiff had purchased a two-family house in a residential zone that it intended 

to rent to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals who were homeless. When 

the community learned that individuals with HIV disease were to live in the house, many 

opposed the siting of the group home and mounted a massive campaign to stop it. The 

community's opposition focused on the fear of AIDS, and some people made derogatory and 

discriminatory remarks about the residents, calling them "druggies" and "whores." 

When the plaintiff informed zoning officials about the intended use of the residence, it 

was told that the use was permitted subject to its securing a special exception. According 

to the zoning commission, the facility was considered either a charitable institution or a 

chronic and convalescent nursing home, and thus, it needed a special exception to operate 

in a residential zone. The commission reached this conclusion even though the plaintiff 

did not intend to provide any health or medical services to the residents. To obtain a 

special exception, the plaintiff would be required to submit a site and architectural plan, 

reports from the town fire marshal and director of health, a certificate of necessity from 

the State health department, and other information required by the town. In addition, a 

public hearing was required and an opportunity for appeal was provided if the exception 

was granted. 

In a further departure from normal zoning procedures, the zoning commission required 

the plaintiff to complete a long questionnaire about the intended use of the property and 

about the residents, some of which was not relevant to zoning matters. In addition, a town 

official responded to community opposition by recommending an alternative location 

closer to health care facilities. However, community opposition to the alternative site 

forced the town to back away from the proposal. When the plaintiff failed in numerous 

efforts to dissuade the zoning commission from requiring a special exception to operate 

the house, the plaintiff sued under the FHA to preliminarily enjoin the town from 

imposing the requirement. 

The court granted the preliminary injunction, finding that the plaintiff would likely win 

the case. In so doing, the court analyzed whether the town had acted with discriminatory 

intent, whether its actions had a discriminatory effect, and whether the town had failed to 

provide a reasonable accommodation. 
The court concluded that the town's imposition of the special exception requirement had a 

discriminatory effect on HIV-infected persons because it held such individuals up to 

public scrutiny in a manner that was not required of groups of unrelated, non-HIVinfected individuals planning to live together. In addition, the process could be 

burdensome and, based on the level of public opposition, quite controversial and 

unpleasant. Moreover, the court found that the requirement had a further discriminatory 

effect by perpetuating the segregation of disabled individuals in housing in the town. 

Balancing the discriminatory effect against the interest of the town, the court found that 

the town's purported interest in ensuring that charitable institutions or chronic and 

convalescent care homes comply with the zoning ordinances was not legitimate. 

According to the court, the town could not reasonably have believed that the residence 

was going to be used for those purposes, and thus it never should have imposed the 

requirement. Moreover, the court found that the town could have used less discriminatory 

alternatives if it sought to ensure compliance with the zoning code or to gather 

information relevant to zoning concerns. The town's traditional police powers could 

ensure that health and safety codes were followed and that the welfare of the tenants and 

neighbors was protected. 

The court also found that two other factors weighed in favor of the plaintiff. First, there 

was evidence of discriminatory intent insofar as town officials departed from the normal 

zoning procedure by requiring completion of the questionnaire, departed from substantive 

criteria by characterizing the residence as a chronic or convalescent care facility, and 

bowed to community opposition that was based in part on discriminatory attitudes. 

Second, the plaintiff was not seeking to compel the town to provide housing; rather, it 

was seeking to compel the town to stop interfering with the plaintiff's efforts to provide 

housing. Taken together, all factors led the court to conclude that the town's action had a 

disparate impact on individuals with HIV disease.114

Zoning ordinances that limit the number of unrelated individuals who can reside in a singlefamily dwelling or constitute a family for purposes of zoning are often struck down as having a 

discriminatory effect. For example, in Parish of Jefferson v. Allied Health Care,115 an ordinance 

limited the number of individuals who could reside in a single-family dwelling to four. A group 

that provided housing to individuals with mental retardation sought to convert a house that had 

been a duplex (each unit which was capable of housing four people) to a single-family dwelling 

for six tenants. The parish refused to grant an occupancy permit because the group exceeded 

four, and it refused to grant a variance to permit six occupants. 

The court ruled that the occupancy limitation had a discriminatory effect because it 

limited the ability of mentally retarded individuals to reside where they wanted. 

Moreover, according to the court, permitting six residents to reside in the dwelling was a 

reasonable accommodation, because there was no evidence that it would burden the 

community's resources.116

The above cases provide the legal theory upon which programs can base challenges to 

requirements to obtain variances and comply with other facially neutral rules that impose greater 

burdens on individuals with alcohol and other drug problems than on nondisabled groups.
Siting Restrictions Upheld. While courts have routinely struck down zoning requirements and 

required modification of rules as reasonable accommodations, not all courts have protected the 

rights of disabled individuals. Some courts have not been sympathetic to discrimination claims, 

and others have emphasized the interests of the localities in enforcing their zoning laws. 

For example, the case of Familystyle of St. Paul v. City of St. Paul117 departs from those that 

reject spacing limitations that have the effect of limiting the ability of disabled individuals to live 

in the houses of their choice. In Familystyle, the court rejected a challenge to a city zoning 

ordinance that required that community residential facilities for mentally ill and mentally 

retarded individuals be located at least a quarter of a mile from one another. The court ruled that 

the dispersal requirement was a valid way to meet the State's goal of deinstitutionalizing persons 

with mental disabilities and providing residential services in mainstream communities rather than 

segregating them.118 In this particular case, the court probably upheld the spacing limitation 

because the housing provider, Familystyle, had created a "ghetto" of individuals with mental 

illness and had failed to carry out a commitment to disperse its facilities. 

It is clear that courts will reach different conclusions about whether particular zoning restrictions 

are discriminatory under the FHA. Much will depend on the particular facts of the case and the 

ability of the parties to develop evidence to prove discriminatory intent or effect and to 

demonstrate that modifications in policies will not dramatically affect the city's zoning plan or 

burden resources. 

Rehabilitation Act and Americans With Disabilities Act

The standards for proving discrimination under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and title II 

of the ADA are essentially the same, since the language of the antidiscrimination provision in 

title II, section 12132, was modeled directly after section 504. The primary distinction between 

the language in the two statutes is that section 504 prohibits discrimination that is based "solely" 

on an individual's disability, whereas title II prohibits discrimination against a disabled 

individual "by reason of such disability."119

It could be argued that this difference in the statutory language affects the way discrimination is 

proved; that is, under the Rehabilitation Act one must show that an individual's disability was the 

exclusive reason for an adverse action-not just one reason, as under the ADA and the above FHA 

cases. However, the regulations that implement section 504 in many Federal agencies actually 

use the language that was adopted in the ADA, and not the Rehabilitation Act's statutory 

language.120 In addition, section 504 cases have recognized that while several reasons may be put 

forth for excluding a disabled person from an activity, the key is whether disability was 

considered improperly in making a decision.121 In many cases, the non-disability-related reasons 

for a decision are, in fact, linked to the disability and, therefore, cannot be extricated from it or 

are just pretexts for a decision and not supported by the facts of the case. 

It is clear that under title II of the ADA, proof of discrimination rests on whether an individual's 

disability was improperly considered in the decisionmaking process. The existence of nondisability-related factors in the adverse decision does not immunize it from attack.122 Since it is 

likely that most programs will choose to sue under the ADA rather than the Rehabilitation Act 
(because the ADA covers more State and local entities and does not impose a Federal-financialassistance requirement), the following discussion outlines the proof for discrimination using the 

ADA standard: that disability discrimination is one, but not necessarily the sole, reason for an 

adverse decision. 

Under the ADA, a program that is challenging an adverse siting decision will most likely claim 

that it is being denied equal services or the benefits of the locality's zoning authority because of 

its relationship with individuals who have alcohol and other drug problems. To prove this claim, 

the program will have the burden of proving the following four points:

1. Individuals with alcohol and other drug problems are disabled individuals and are protected by 

the ADA 

2. They are qualified to benefit from the zoning authority (obtain a variance, special use permit, or 

building permit) either with or without a reasonable accommodation 

3. The program has been denied the zoning service because of the disability of the individuals who 

will eventually use the facility 

4. A State or local entity has made an adverse zoning decision. 

While no siting cases had been decided under the ADA at the time this manual was prepared, the 

evidence and analysis required to prove the second and third points are the same as that outlined 

under the FHA cases.123 The key is to show that city officials refused to permit the siting of a 

program or erected barriers because the persons who will use the facility have alcohol or other 

drug problems. This requires an examination of the statements and actions by zoning officials, 

their acquiescence to community opposition that is grounded in discrimination, and the reasons 

provided for making a siting decision. To the extent that officials imposed special requirements 

on the program or departed from normal zoning procedures, these facts will support a finding 

that disability was improperly considered. Similarly, the determination of whether an 

accommodation to the zoning practices and policies is reasonable will follow the same analysis 

as that under the FHA. 

To avoid liability, the locality would have to establish either that its decisions were not based on 

an improper consideration of disability or that an accommodation would fundamentally alter the 

nature of the community's character or impose an undue financial and administrative burden on 

the locality's services. 

Enforcement Procedures

Fair Housing Act

The FHA establishes a comprehensive enforcement procedure that includes an administrative 

complaint procedure124 within the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and a 

court enforcement procedure.125 In addition, the Attorney General is authorized to file cases 

when she determines that a pattern or practice of discrimination exists or that the denial of equal 

housing in a particular case raises an issue of general public importance.126

Entities challenging housing discrimination can choose to file a complaint either in the 

administrative agency127 or in Federal or State court, and they are not required to exhaust 
administrative remedies before filing a court action. This means that an individual may file a 

civil action in court without first having to file an administrative complaint. The only exception 

to this is that if an administrative hearing has already begun, the complainant may not file a civil 

action.128

The FHA establishes strict timeframes for filing administrative and court actions and for HUD to 

process administrative complaints. A complainant has 1 year after a discriminatory practice has 

occurred or terminated to file a complaint with HUD129 and 2 years to file an action in court.130 If 

a complaint is filed with HUD, the agency is required to complete its investigation within a brief 

period—100 days—or notify the parties as to why it cannot do so.131 HUD has the authority to 

subpoena witnesses and gather extensive information to determine whether a violation has 

occurred. Throughout the investigation, HUD is required to engage the parties in conciliation to 

try to resolve the matter. In addition, if at any time during the investigation HUD determines that 

prompt judicial action is necessary to enforce the law, it can authorize the Attorney General to 

file suit to obtain a temporary restraining order or other preliminary relief.132

Upon completion of the investigation, HUD is required to either file a charge of discrimination 

or dismiss the complaint. If HUD files a charge of discrimination, the complainant can choose to 

have the matter resolved by an administrative law judge or to have the Attorney General file an 

action in Federal court on his or her behalf.133

One significant exception to this rule relates to challenges to zoning ordinances. Under the FHA, 

HUD is required to refer any complaint that involves a challenge to the legality of a State or local 

zoning or land use ordinance to the Attorney General for further action, rather than file a 

charge.134 Thus, all zoning challenges will be resolved ultimately through a court procedure 

initiated by either the complainant or the Attorney General, provided the parties have not reached 

a settlement. 

Under the FHA, an administrative action must be commenced within 120 days of the issuance of 

a charge, unless it is impracticable, and the administrative law judge is required to issue a 

decision within 60 days after the end of the hearing.135 If a charge is to be resolved through the 

courts, the Attorney General is required to file an action within 18 months of the occurrence or 

termination of the discriminatory housing action.136 The decision by the administrative law judge 

or the Federal court judge may be appealed to the Federal court of appeals. 

Rehabilitation Act and Americans With Disabilities Act

The enforcement provisions for alleged violations of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and 

title II of the ADA are virtually identical.137 Individuals complaining of discrimination may file a 

civil action in a State or Federal court or an administrative complaint with the Federal agency 

designated to resolve such complaints. Complaints filed under section 504 of the Rehabilitation 

Act are resolved by the Federal agency that provides the Federal funding to the entity that is 

being sued. Complaints filed under the ADA are resolved by the Federal agency that has 

authority over the governmental function at issue in the case. The regulations that implement the 

ADA identify the various functions for which each Federal agency is responsible and 

vest responsibility for any un-designated function with the Department of Justice.138
Responsibility for complaints alleging discriminatory zoning decisions rests with the Department 

of Justice.139

An administrative complaint must be filed within 180 days of the date of the allegedly 

discriminatory action. For alleged violations of title II of the ADA and section 504 of the 

Rehabilitation Act, the agency is required to investigate the complaint, attempt informal 

resolution, and, if resolution is not achieved, issue a letter of findings. The letter of findings 

includes a determination of whether a violation has occurred and a description of the remedy for 

any violation. If a violation is found, the agency is required to initiate negotiations to secure 

voluntary compliance. Under title II, if the public entity does not agree to comply, the agency is 

required to refer the matter to the Attorney General with a recommendation for appropriate 

action.140 Under section 504, the agency is required to initiate enforcement proceedings that can 

lead to Federal fund termination. 

A private civil action may be filed at any time within the applicable statute of limitations.141 As 

with the FHA, the complainant need not exhaust administrative remedies, even if an 

administrative action has been initiated. In addition, a civil action may be brought regardless of 

whether the designated Federal agency finds a violation.142

Remedies

Fair Housing Act

The FHA establishes three different sets of relief measures, depending upon whether the 

complaint is resolved through the administrative process, through a private civil action, or 

through an action filed by the Attorney General. Taken as a whole, the penalties for violations of 

the FHA are more severe than those permitted under the Rehabilitation Act or the ADA. 

For actions resolved through the administrative process, the administrative law judge may award 

actual damages suffered by the aggrieved person and injunctive and other equitable relief. In 

addition, the administrative law judge may assess a civil penalty to vindicate the public interest. 

The penalty cannot exceed $10,000 for the first discriminatory action, $25,000 if one previous 

discriminatory action was found within the previous 5-year period, or $50,000 if two or more 

discriminatory actions were found within the previous 7-year period.143

For actions resolved through private court actions, the court may award the plaintiff actual and 

punitive damages and equitable relief, such as a temporary or permanent injunction, a temporary 

restraining order, an order enjoining the defendant from engaging in the discriminatory practice, 

or an order requiring affirmative action as appropriate.144

For actions resolved in a court action initiated by the Attorney General, the court may award 

preventive relief, including a temporary or permanent injunction, a restraining order or some 

other order necessary to ensure full enjoyment of the rights granted under the FHA; monetary 

damages to persons aggrieved; and, to vindicate the public interest, a civil penalty not exceeding 

$50,000 for a first violation and $100,000 for any subsequent violation.145
In addition, regardless of the resolution process, the FHA authorizes the award of attorney fees 

and costs to the prevailing party.146 This provision is essential to enable private parties to initiate 

and finance legal challenges. 

Cases brought under the FHA provide examples of the various forms of relief:

In United States v. City of Taylor,147 The court ordered the city to provide a reasonable 

accommodation to the operators of an adult foster care home by amending its zoning ordinance 

to permit up to 12 elderly disabled persons to live in a neighborhood zoned for single-family 

residences, it assessed a civil penalty of $20,000 on the city, and it awarded the home's 

operators actual damages of $284,000, representing lost revenue for the period in which they 

could not operate the home with 12 residents.148

In United States v. Borough of Audubon, N.J.,149 the court enjoined Audubon from interfering 

with the operation of an Oxford House or any other group living arrangement for disabled 

individuals and assessed a civil penalty of $10,000. The court refused to impose an affirmative 

requirement on Audubon that it report all proposed changes in zoning laws to the United States 

before implementation.150

In Support Ministries for Persons With AIDS, Inc. v. Village of Waterford, N.Y.,151 the court 

permanently enjoined Waterford from interfering with the plaintiff's use of a dwelling as a 

residence for persons with AIDS and directed Waterford to issue a certificate of occupancy and 

to expeditiously process building permit applications, it awarded actual damages for mortgage 

interest costs, and it awarded the amount of attorney fees and costs incurred for the zoning 

process.152

In United States v. Scott,153 the court permanently enjoined the defendant homeowners from 

taking any action to interfere with the sale of a private home to an organization that sought to 

establish a group home for individuals with developmental disabilities or the operation of the 

group home, it awarded the individuals who tried to sell their home actual damages of 

$3,332.08 and compensatory damages of $2,000 for emotional distress, and it awarded punitive 

damages of $2,000 to the sellers because the defendants had demonstrated reckless 

indifference to their rights and those of disabled individuals.154

Rehabilitation Act and Americans With Disabilities Act

The remedies under the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA are virtually identical and are the same 

as the remedies provided in other civil rights statutes that prohibit discrimination by federally 

assisted entities.155 In general, monetary damages to compensate aggrieved individuals and 

entities and equitable relief in the form of temporary and permanent injunctions and temporary 

restraining orders may be awarded. In addition, in any court or administrative proceeding, the 

prevailing party may be awarded attorney fees, including litigation expenses and costs.156 Under 

the Rehabilitation Act, Federal funds can also be cut.157

The case of Sullivan v. City of Pittsburgh158 provides an example of relief that is available under 

the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA. In Sullivan, the court granted the residents of a treatment 

program preliminary injunctive relief, which required the city to grant the treatment program 

conditional use permits for all facilities, building permits needed to bring the facilities into 

compliance with city safety codes, and occupancy permits and required the city to release CDBG 

funds for necessary repairs and renovations.159
Equal Protection Claims Under the U.S. Constitution

The equal protection clause of the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution also provides 

protection against discriminatory siting practices.160 While few programs will need to use this 

vehicle for suits because of the FHA's and the ADA's expansive protections, it is useful to 

understand the basic legal arguments involved in proving a violation of equal protection. 

The equal protection clause prohibits States and localities from denying any person the equal 

protection of the laws. It requires State and local officials to treat individuals who are similarly 

situated the same. When laws classify individuals into different groups and distinguish between 

groups, an equal protection violation may exist. 

Under constitutional case law, three different standards have been established for evaluating 

whether statutes or official actions violate the equal protection clause. First, as a general rule, 

legislation is presumed to be valid and will be sustained if the classification between groups 

under the statute is rationally related to a legitimate State interest. When social or economic 

legislation, such as regulations or licensure of health providers or zoning ordinances, is 

challenged, the equal protection clause gives States wide latitude to structure their programs and 

therefore does not interfere frequently by striking down statutes as unconstitutional. A stricter 

standard is applied for cases alleging gender discrimination, and an even tougher standard—

called strict scrutiny—is used when a statute classifies by race, national origin, or alienage. 

In City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center,161 a case that challenged a zoning ordinance that 

required group homes for individuals with mental retardation and mental illness and for 

individuals who abuse alcohol and other drugs to obtain a special use permit, the Supreme Court 

held that statutes and official actions that distinguish between individuals with and without 

disabilities should be reviewed like other legislation that affects social and economic matters. 

The Court said that such statutes need only be rationally related to a legitimate governmental 

purpose to satisfy equal protection guarantees. Thus, only arbitrary and irrational distinctions 

violate the law.162

While this lowest level of scrutiny usually means that the statute will be upheld as valid, the 

Court in Cleburne found that the zoning ordinance as applied to individuals with mental 

retardation,163 in fact violated equal protection.164 According to the Court, there was no 

indication that siting a group home for the individuals with mental retardation in an area in which 

hospitals, boarding houses, apartment buildings, and many other dwellings were permitted 

without obtaining a special use permit would pose any special threat to the city's legitimate 

interests. The Court determined that the city's purported interest in responding to the negative 

attitudes and fears of neighbors who did not want to live close to a home for individuals with 

mental retardation was not a legitimate reason for treating a group home differently from other 

facilities. 

In addition, the city's health and safety considerations about the home being located on a 

floodplain or having too many residents were not rational when applied solely to a group home 

for individuals with mental retardation. According to the Court, these same concerns should have 

applied to all other facilities in the particular area, but no other facility was required to obtain a 
special use permit. The Court concluded that the special use permit requirement was based on an 

irrational prejudice against individuals with mental retardation.165

The Court's analysis of the special use permit requirement in Cleburne is very similar to the 

analysis under the FHA.166 A court probably would have gone even further under the FHA to 

invalidate the special use permit requirement entirely, because it discriminated against disabled 

individuals on its face and did not serve a legitimate purpose. This overlap in analysis and results 

only reinforces the basic rule that courts will rarely use an equal protection claim to invalidate a 

discriminatory siting decision when a statutory claim—based on the FHA or the ADA, for 

example—can be used instead. 

Administrative Procedures and State Court Actions

Adverse siting decisions may also be challenged through local administrative proceedings and 

State court actions. If zoning officials have erred in applying a local zoning ordinance or State 

law, these forums are usually used, although alleged constitutional violations or State disability

law violations also may be challenged in a State court procedure. For example, if the zoning 

board has applied a set of health and safety standards to a treatment program even though an 

ordinance exempts that type of treatment program from those standards, the program could 

challenge the erroneous decision through an administrative hearing and, if necessary, a State 

court action. Or if local zoning officials have misconstrued the intended use of a group recovery 

home and impose requirements that apply to treatment programs providing some therapeutic 

services, but not to group homes, the erroneous application of the zoning law could be 

challenged. In either case, the program would seek to overturn the decision because it violated 

the land use regulations. This approach may be a quick way to resolve certain disputes that have 

led to denial of siting. 

The procedures for initiating such actions vary from State to State. While it is difficult to provide 

anything more than general guidance on State court zoning actions, it is useful to understand a 

few standard principles that can help a program decide whether to use this avenue to challenge 

an adverse zoning decision.167

Administrative Procedure for Challenging an Adverse Decision

The procedure for reviewing an adverse zoning decision is generally divided into two parts: 

administrative review and judicial review. Usually, a claimant must go through the 

administrative review process—that is, exhaust administrative remedies—and have a final 

decision before initiating an action in State court. This practice stands in contrast to actions 

brought under the anti-discrimination statutes, which do not require that administrative review 

procedures be used before an action is filed in Federal court. 

The administrative body that reviews zoning decisions has authority to correct errors that local 

officials have made in implementing land use regulations. The body conducts a hearing, gathers 

evidence, and then renders a decision that affirms, reverses, or modifies the zoning agency's 

decision. The administrative body cannot amend a provision of a zoning ordinance, and it thus 

has no authority similar to that given courts under the FHA, the Rehabilitation Act, and the ADA 
to waive or modify zoning requirements to accommodate the needs of individuals with 

disabilities. The administrative body is, however, authorized to grant a variance or a special 

permit if one is requested as part of the appeal. 

Judicial Procedures To Review an Administrative Decision

State courts have authority to review the zoning decisions of administrative bodies. Courts may 

gather additional evidence, and they must determine whether the administrative decision is 

supported by "substantial evidence," which means that the facts of the case adequately support 

the decision. In general, courts will defer to the zoning agency that made the initial decision. 

Consistent with the deference afforded to the local zoning authority, State courts generally will 

not decide a case unless the local zoning agency's administrative procedures have been 

exhausted. In other words, a claimant cannot file a claim in court challenging the application of a 

zoning ordinance to his or her property without first trying to resolve the dispute by obtaining a 

variance or some other use permit through the agency that enforces the zoning law. The reason 

for this is that courts want disputes resolved as quickly as possible by local agencies that have 

the most expertise in a matter. The only exceptions to this rule are when it would be futile to

exhaust administrative remedies, when ordinances provide the right to bypass an agency's 

administrative processes, or when the constitutionality of a zoning ordinance or official action is 

challenged. 

A court may overturn the decision of the local zoning agency on several grounds. The zoning 

agency's decision may be found to violate constitutional or statutory provisions, to go beyond the 

statutory authority of the agency, to be affected by an error of law, to be clearly erroneous when 

considering the reliable and substantial factual evidence, or to be arbitrary and capricious.168

Remedies

Upon overturning a zoning agency's decision, a court may order various forms of relief. 

Generally, the relief is more limited than that provided under the antidiscrimination laws: 

A court may invalidate the agency's decision and prohibit it from being implemented. 

In some States, when a court rules that a zoning ordinance is unconstitutional, it will permit the 

claimant to use the land as it wishes as long as the proposed use is reasonable, and the court 

will enjoin the locality from interfering with that use. 

In extreme cases, a court will order affirmative relief, such as rezoning an area in a particular 

manner, ordering a permit for a particular use, or modifying the locality's comprehensive plan to 

permit the proposed use. This relief has been ordered primarily when a court finds that a 

community has arbitrarily refused to comply with a constitutional or judicial mandate to accept 

some affordable housing within its jurisdiction.169

Monetary damages are not generally available, except when a zoning decision is found to violate 

Federal civil rights laws or in cases of flagrant misuse of governmental authority.170 In contrast 

to actions under the antidiscrimination laws, in State actions attorney fees are not available to the 

prevailing party. 
To the extent that a program is contemplating whether to use the State administrative and judicial 

systems to challenge an adverse siting decision, it is important to analyze decisions that have 

been rendered in similar cases to determine whether State courts will be sympathetic to the type 

of claim that will be brought. In some cases, Federal courts may be more sympathetic to 

discrimination cases and have more experience enforcing antidiscrimination laws. Therefore, if 

the program can choose between filing a suit in State or Federal court, a review of the case law 

will reveal which court system will likely render a more favorable decision. 

____________________ 

1

29 U.S.C. §§ 701-796 (1988). The Rehabilitation Act was enacted in 1973 and has been 

amended on several occasions to clarify coverage of individuals with drug and alcohol problems 

and, most recently, to remove coverage for individuals who currently use drugs illegally. 

2

42 U.S.C. §§ 3601-3631 (1988). The Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA), which added the 

disability protections to the FHA, was enacted in 1988. 

3

42 U.S.C. §§ 12101-12213 (Supp. 1991). The ADA was enacted in July 1990. 

4

The Rehabilitation Act and the ADA specifically exclude individuals who are currently 

engaging in the illegal use of drugs when covered entities make decisions on the basis of such 

current use (29 U.S.C. § 706(8)(C)(i); 42 U.S.C. § 12210(a)). The FHA specifically excludes

individuals who currently engage in the illegal use of or are addicted to controlled substances (42 

U.S.C. § 3602(h)). 

5 Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. § 706(8)(C)(iii)); ADA (42 U.S.C. § 12210(c)). 

6 Congress sought to deny protection to only those individuals who engaged in illegal activity. 

Therefore, all three statutes define "drug" as a "controlled substance," and "illegal drug use" as 

use that violates the Controlled Substances Act. Individuals who use drugs under the supervision 

of licensed health care professionals or in other ways that are authorized under the Controlled 

Substances Act are not considered to be using drugs illegally (29 U.S.C. § 706(22)(A) and (B); 

42 U.S.C. § 12210(d); 42 U.S.C. § 3602(h)). Since alcohol is not a controlled substance, 

individuals who have current alcohol problems enjoy the same protection against discrimination 

as other individuals with covered disabilities. 

7

The Rehabilitation Act and the ADA provide explicit coverage for individuals who have 

successfully completed supervised drug rehabilitation programs or who have otherwise been 

rehabilitated successfully and for individuals who are participating in supervised rehabilitation 

programs (29 U.S.C. § 706(8)(C)(ii); 42 U.S.C. § 12210(b)). The FHA does not contain the same 

explicit language, but the legislative history makes clear that Congress did not intend to exclude 

individuals who "have recovered from an addition [sic] or are participating in a treatment 

program or a self-help group such as Narcotics Anonymous" (H. Rpt. 100-711 (1988), 

U.S.C.C.A.N. 2173, 2183). In addition, one court has looked to the scope of coverage for 

individuals with drug problems under the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act to conclude that 

individuals who are participating in treatment are protected against discrimination under the 

FHA (United States v. Southern Management Corp., 955 F. 2d 914, 921-23 (4th Cir. 1992)). 
8

29 U.S.C. § 706(8); 42 U.S.C. § 12102(2); 42 U.S.C. § 3602(h). The FHAA uses "handicap" 

instead of "disability," but the terms are synonymous. 

9

Federal regulations that implement the Rehabilitation Act, the FHA, and the ADA define 

"record of an impairment" as having a history of or having been misclassified as having a 

physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity (see 1 CFR § 326.103 

(1993); 

24 CFR § 100.201 (1992); 28 CFR § 35.104 (1992)). 

10 Federal regulations define the "regarded as" prong as having a physical or mental impairment 

that does not substantially limit a major life activity but that is treated by another person or 

public entity as constituting such a limitation, having a physical or mental impairment that 

substantially limits a major life activity only as a result of the attitudes of others toward such 

impairment, or not having an impairment but being treated by another person or public entity as 

having such an impairment (1 CFR § 326.103; 24 CFR § 100.201; 28 CFR § 35.104). 

11 1 CFR § 326.103; 24 CFR § 100.201; 28 CFR § 35.104. 

12 1 CFR § 326.103; 24 CFR § 100.201; 28 CFR § 35.104. 

13 See, e.g., Sullivan v. City of Pittsburgh, 811 F. 2d 171, 182 (3d Cir.) (recovering alcoholics 

whose treatment program was being closed because of a denial of a conditional use permit were 

handicapped individuals), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 849 (1987); Nisperos v. Buck, 720 F. Supp. 

1424, 1427 (N.D. Cal. 1989) (attorney who was participating in a drug treatment program was a 

handicapped individual because his employer regarded him as having an impairment), aff'd, 936 

F. 2d 579 (9th Cir. 1991); Whitlock v. Donovan, 598 F. Supp. 126, 129 (D.D.C. 1984) (employee 

with a current alcohol problem was a handicapped employee), aff'd, 790 F. 2d 964 (D.C. Cir. 

1986); Simpson v. Reynolds Metals Co., Inc., 629 F. 2d 1226, 1231 n. 8 (7th Cir. 1980) 

(employee with a current alcohol problem was a handicapped person); and Wallace v. Veterans 

Admin., 683 F. Supp. 758 (D. Kan. 1988) (nurse in recovery from a drug problem was a 

"handicapped individual"). 

14 797 F. Supp. 353 (D.N.J. 1991). 

15 Id. at 359. 

16 799 F. Supp. 450 (D.N.J. 1992). 

17 Id. at 460. 

18 955 F. 2d 914 (4th Cir. 1992). 

19 Id. at 919. 

20 Oxford House, Inc. v. Township of Cherry Hill, 799 F. Supp. 450, 460 (D.N.J. 1992); Oxford 

House-Evergreen v. City of Plainfield, 769 F. Supp. 1329, 1342 (D.N.J. 1991). 
21 See, e.g., Support Ministries for Persons With AIDS, Inc. v. Village of Waterford, N.Y., 808 F. 

Supp. 120, 127 (N.D.N.Y. 1992) (adult care facility for persons with AIDS would be drug and 

alcohol free, with as-needed testing for use, and the residents, who would be required to sign a 

contract agreeing to honor the policy, would be evicted for violation of the policy); Oxford 

House, Inc. v. Township of Cherry Hill, 799 F. Supp. at 453 (under Oxford House policy, 

individuals who resume the use of alcohol or other drugs would be required to leave the house); 

Baxter v. City of Belleville, Ill., 720 F. Supp. 720, 733 (S.D. Ill. 1989) (operator of a residence 

for persons with AIDS would reject any current illegal drug user as a resident). 

22 Just as the court in United States v. Southern Management Corp. (955 F. 2d 914, 922 (4th Cir. 

1992)) relied on the ADA's statutory language to conclude that Congress intended to protect a 

rehabilitated addict under the FHA, courts should look to the ADA to fill other gaps. This will be 

particularly important in developing a consistent interpretation of disability discrimination 

statutes. 

23 28 CFR § 35.104. 

24 Teahan v. Metro-North Commuter Railroad Co., No. 91-7431, 1991 WL 279031 (2d Cir. 

1991) (employee who sought treatment before receiving a discharge notice and successfully 

completed treatment before being actually discharged was not a continuing substance abuser, 

even though an administrative appeal process delayed the termination); Nisperos v. Buck, 720 F. 

Supp. 1424, 1427 (N.D. Cal. 1989) (attorney who was fired 2 days after completing a treatment 

program, even though his employer knew of his cocaine use during the previous 3 months and 

took no action, was considered "rehabilitating or rehabilitated" under the Rehabilitation Act and 

not a current user), aff'd, 936 F. 2d 579 (9th Cir. 1991). 

25 42 U.S.C. § 3607(d)(4). 

26 In Oxford House-Evergreen v. City of Plainfield, 769 F. Supp. 1329, 1342-43 (D.N.J. 1991), 

the court rejected as too speculative the city's argument that it should be permitted to prohibit 

nine men from residing in an Oxford House because it was likely that they would have been 

convicted for drug distribution or sale and, thus, not protected under the FHA. 

27 Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act states that "no otherwise qualified individual with a 

disability" shall be subjected to discrimination 

(29 U.S.C. § 794), and title II of the ADA states that "no qualified individual with a disability" 

shall be subjected to discrimination (28 U.S.C. § 12132). 

28 The Rehabilitation Act does not define "otherwise qualified," but the case law defines it as 

noted above (School Board of Nassau County, Fla. v. Arline, 480 U.S. 273, 287 n. 17 (1987); 

Southeastern Community College v. Davis, 442 U.S. 3997 (1979)). The ADA incorporated this 

definition into its statutory definition and provides in relevant part: "The term 'qualified 

individual with a disability' means an individual with a disability who, with or without 

reasonable modifications to rules, policies, or practices, . . . meets the essential eligibility 

requirements for the receipt of services or the participation in programs or activities provided by 

a public entity" (42 U.S.C. § 12131(2)). 
29 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(9). 

30 In addition to these three provisions, all other provisions of the Fair Housing Act have been 

amended so as to prohibit discrimination on the basis of disability. They may provide other 

statutory bases for suing, and programs should carefully evaluate whether these provisions apply 

to their particular cases. 

31 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(1). 

32 The legislative history states that the new subsections, 42 U.S.C. §3604(f)(1) and (2)-

would also apply to state or local land use and health and safety laws, regulations, practices or 

decisions which discriminate against individuals with handicaps. While state and local 

governments have authority to protect safety and health, and to regulate use of land, that 

authority has sometimes been used to restrict the ability of individuals with handicaps to live in 

communities. This has been accomplished by such means as the enactment or imposition of 

health, safety or land-use requirements on congregate living arrangements among non-related 

persons with disabilities. Since these requirements are not imposed on families and groups of 

similar size of other unrelated people, these requirements have the effect of discriminating 

against persons with disabilities. 

The Committee intends that the prohibition against discrimination against those with handicaps 

apply to zoning decisions and practices. The Act is intended to prohibit the application of special 

requirements through land-use regulations, restrictive covenants, and conditional or special use 

permits that have the effect of limiting the ability of such individuals to live in the residence of 

their choice in the community.

(H. Rpt. 100-711 (1988), U.S.C.C.A.N. 2173, 2185) 

33 115 S. Ct. 776 (1995). 

34 Section 3607(b)(1) of the FHA provides that "[n]othing in this title limits the applicability of 

any reasonable local, State, or Federal restriction regarding the maximum number of occupants 

permitted to occupy a dwelling." The legislative history indicates that the exemption was 

intended to deal with the limitations that jurisdictions frequently impose that "limit the number 

of occupants per unit based on a minimum number of square feet in the unit or the sleeping areas 

of the unit. Reasonable limitations by governments would be allowed to continue, as long as they 

were applied to all occupants, and did not operate to discriminate on the basis of race, color, 

religion, sex, national origin, handicap or familial status" (H. Rpt. 100-711 (1988), 1988 

U.S.C.C.A.N. 2192). 

35 In Edmonds, a local ordinance limited the number of unrelated individuals who could live in a 

single-family residence to five. Oxford House, which had 12 residents, asked the city to provide 

a reasonable accommodation under the FHA by permitting more than 5 individuals to live in the 

single-family dwelling. The city refused, claiming that its zoning ordinance was exempt from the 

FHA because it limited the maximum number of occupants who could reside in a dwelling. 
The Supreme Court rejected the city's position, finding that its zoning ordinance was the very 

type of land use requirement the Fair Housing Act intended to regulate. In deciding this case, the 

Court distinguished two types of zoning laws: laws regulating the use of land and those 

regulating the number of occupants allowed to live in a dwelling. It reasoned that where land is 

zoned for single-family residences, a city must define "family," therefore making family 

composition rules essential parts of land use law. The fact that the ordinance capped the number 

of unrelated individuals who could live together did not turn it into a maximum occupancy 

restriction. Such restrictions must apply to all individuals, not just to unrelated individuals. 

Because the city's ordinance only limited the number of unrelated individuals who could live 

together in the single-family neighborhood, the court concluded that the city's ordinance was a 

land use restriction and not exempt from the Fair Housing Act (City of Edmonds v. Oxford 

House, Inc., 115 S. Ct. 776, 778-80 (1995)). 

36 804 F. Supp. 683 (E.D. Pa. 1992), aff'd, 995 F. 2d 217 (3d Cir. 1993). 

37 974 F. 2d 43 (6th Cir. 1992). 

38 Oxford House, Inc. v. Township of Cherry Hill, 799 F. Supp. 450 (D.N.J. 1992); Oxford 

House-Evergreen v. City of Plainfield, 769 F. Supp. 1329 (D.N.J. 1991). 

39 752 F. Supp. 1152 (D.P.R. 1990). 

40 740 F. Supp. 95 (D.P.R. 1990). 

41 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B). 

42 Oxford House, Inc. v. Town of Babylon, 1993 WL 127711 (E.D.N.Y.); Oxford House, Inc. v. 

Township of Cherry Hill, 799 F. Supp. 450, 462-63 (D.N.J. 1992); Horizon House Dev. Servs., 

Inc. v. Township of Upper Southampton, 804 F. Supp. 683, 699-70 (E.D. Pa. 1992); Stewart B. 

McKinney Found., Inc. v. Town Plan & Zoning Comm'n of the Town of Fairfield, 790 F. Supp. 

1197, 1221-22 (D. Conn. 1992); United States v. Village of Marshall, 787 F. Supp. 872, 878 

(W.D. Wis. 1991). 

43 Village of Marshall, 787 F. Supp. at 878. 

44 1993 WL 127711 (E.D.N.Y). 

45 787 F. Supp. 872, 880 (W.D. Wis. 1991). 

46 798 F. Supp. 442 (E.D. Mich. 1992), rev'd and remanded sub nom. Smith & Lee Associates, 

Inc. v. City of Taylor, Mich., 13 F. 3d 920 (6th Cir. 1993), on remand U.S. v. City of Taylor, 

Mich. and Smith & Lee Assocs., Inc. v. City of Taylor, Mich., 872 F. Supp. 423 (E.D. Mich. 

1995). 

47 42 U.S.C. § 3617. 
48 This provision regulates activities that may involve first amendment free speech rights of 

individuals who are affected by, though not involved in, a real estate transaction. In April 1995, 

following complaints that a FHA investigation interfered with the first amendment rights of 

individuals who expressed opposition to the siting of a group home for disabled individuals, the 

Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued new standards restricting the 

types of complaints that the Federal Government would investigate. 

Under Notice 95-2 (April 3, 1995), HUD will not investigate or accept any complaint that 

involves public activities that are directed at achieving governmental action unless those actions 

involve force, physical harm, or a clear threat of force or physical harm to one or more 

individuals. Protected activities include distributing information to the public at large, holding 

community or neighborhood meetings, writing newspaper articles, demonstrating peacefully, 

testifying at public hearings and filing nonfrivolous litigation. According to the HUD guidance, 

hostile, distasteful, and bigoted comments that make individuals protected by the Fair Housing 

Act feel unwelcome in a neighborhood do not constitute sufficient cause for the Federal 

Government to file or investigate a claim. 

While these activities cannot be the basis of a Federal action, HUD investigators still investigate 

public records and collect evidence of public hostility and opposition to determine whether 

officials acted with discriminatory intent in making decisions. (See "Facially Invalid Zoning 

Ordinances.") In addition, while the Federal Government will not file a complaint based on 

"protected" public activities, private claims may still be filed. The HUD guidance states that it "is 

not meant to circumscribe the right of any individual who believes that his/her rights under the 

Fair Housing Act have been violated to seek redress through private legal action" (Notice 95-2 at 

1, n. 1). 

49 781 F. Supp. 1132; 789 F. Supp. 725 (E.D. Va. 1992). According to Notice 95-2, the public 

actions in this case would be sufficient for the Federal Government to investigate and file a 

coercion or intimidation claim. 

50 797 F. Supp. 353 (D.N.J. 1991). 

51 788 F. Supp. 1555, 809 F. Supp. 1404 (D. Kan. 1992). According to Notice 95-2, the filing of 

frivolous litigation by the homeowners in this case would provide the basis for Federal action. 

52 29 U.S.C. § 794(a). 

53 811 F. 2d 171 (3d Cir. 1987). 

54 Id. at 183. The case was decided under the Rehabilitation Act. Neither the FHAA nor the ADA 

had been enacted. If this case were filed today, all three statutes would be applicable. 

55 The Civil Rights Restoration Act (Public Law 100-259) redefined the term "program or 

activity" in section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act to require institutionwide coverage for the 

public and private entities that receive Federal financial assistance. Thus, when any part of a 

State or local government receives Federal financial assistance, the entire agency or department 
is covered. Accordingly, the existence of any Federal funding within a city zoning board is 

sufficient to cover the board's activities under the Rehabilitation Act. (See 29 U.S.C. § 794(a) 

and (b); S. Rpt. 100-64 (1988), U.S.C.C.A.N. 3, 18.) 

56 Section 41.51 of the Rehabilitation Act's so-called coordinating regulations sets out a long list 

of activities that constitute discrimination. While this manual identifies several provisions that 

are most applicable to challenging a siting decision, a program should examine all the provisions 

to determine whether other protections apply to its particular case. 

57 28 CFR § 41.53. 

58 While the Rehabilitation Act does not affirmatively state that discrimination includes the 

failure to provide a reasonable accommodation, as in the FHA, section 504 cases that have 

applied the reasonable-accommodation requirement have found that the failure to provide a 

reasonable accommodation constitutes discrimination (see discussion in School Board of Nassau 

County, Fla. v. Arline, 480 U.S. 273, 287-88 (1987)). 

59 28 CFR § 41.51(3)(i). 

60 42 U.S.C. § 12132. 

61 Title II of the ADA was intended to parallel the Rehabilitation Act closely, because most State 

and local government activities are recipients of Federal financial assistance and, thus, covered 

under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act already. Section 203 of the ADA (42 U.S.C. 

§ 12133) explicitly requires that the remedies under title II be the same as those under the 

Rehabilitation Act for violations of section 504, and section 204 of the ADA (42 U.S.C. 

§ 12134(b)) requires that the title II regulations be consistent with those developed by the then 

Department of Health, Education and Welfare to coordinate the implementation of section 504 

among Federal agencies. 

62 28 CFR § 35.130(3)(i). 

63 Oxford House, Inc. v. Town of Babylon, 1993 WL 127711 (E.D.N.Y.); Oxford House, Inc. v. 

Township of Cherry Hill, 799 F. Supp. 450 (D.N.J. 1991). 

64 Horizon House Dev. Servs., Inc., v. Township of Upper Southampton, 804 F. Supp. 683 (E.D. 

Pa. 1992); United States v. Village of Marshall, 787 F. Supp. 872 (W.D. Wis. 1991). 

65 28 CFR § 35.130(b)(vii). 

66 28 CFR § 35.130(d). 

67 28 CFR § 35.130(b)(7). 

68 28 CFR § 35.130(g). 
69 "Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in State and Local Government Services," 56 

F.R. 35694, 35706 (1991). 

70 42 U.S.C. §§ 3604, 3605, and 3606; 24 CFR § 100.5(b). 

71 24 CFR § 100.10(c)(1) and (2). 

72 29 U.S.C. § 794(a) and (b). 

73 42 U.S.C. § 12131. 

74 Standards developed under the Rehabilitation Act will apply under title II of the ADA because 

Congress intended title II to "extend . . . the anti-discrimination prohibition embodied in Section 

504 to all actions of state and local governments" (H. Rpt. 101-485, part II, at 84 (1990)). To 

ensure consistency, section 204(b) (42 U.S.C. § 12134(b)) of the ADA specifically requires that 

the regulations developed to implement title II be consistent with those that implemented section 

504 of the Rehabilitation Act. The Department of Justice noted in issuing the title II regulations 

that the rule "hews closely to the provisions of existing section 504 regulations" for these reasons 

(56 F.R. at 35694). 

75 Individuals who seek to sue must satisfy the "standing" requirement; that is, those individuals 

who are actually injured by an action must be the ones to challenge it, and the Federal courts will 

make decisions only when a real controversy exists between the parties. This ensures that courts 

operate within the authority granted under the Constitution. Some statutes clearly establish who 

can sue, while others set forth general protections and leave the determination of who can sue to 

the standards that have been developed under case law. 

76 42 U.S.C. § 3602(i). Under the Federal doctrine of "ripeness," an individual must have an 

actual, concrete injury in order to state a claim under the FHA or other discrimination laws. 

Depending upon the action that is being challenged, an individual may need to comply with 

zoning requirements and be denied favorable action before being able to challenge such 

requirements as discriminatory. 

For example, in Oxford House, Inc. v. City of Virginia Beach, Va. (825 F. Supp. 1251 (E.D. Va. 

1993)), an ordinance required any group of more than four unrelated people to apply for a 

conditional use permit to establish a group home. Oxford House established a group home that 

had more than four occupants without obtaining a conditional use permit. Upon learning that the 

city intended to take action for failing to obtain a permit, Oxford House filed an administrative 

complaint and thereafter a suit challenging the ordinance as violative of the FHA. The court held 

that the FHA claim was not ripe, because Oxford House had not applied for a conditional use 

permit and thus could not demonstrate that it actually had been injured (denied the permit and 

opportunity to establish a group home). (Id. at 1260-65.) 

77 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(1). 

78 804 F. Supp. 683 (E.D. Pa. 1992). 
79 Id. at 691-93. See also Marbrunak, Inc. v. City of Stow, Ohio, 974 F. 2d 43 (6th Cir. 1992) 

(nonprofit corporation that was prevented from establishing a residence for mentally retarded 

women because of city's fire and safety codes had standing to sue); Support Ministries for 

Persons With AIDS, Inc. v. Village of Waterford, N.Y., 808 F. Supp. 120 (N.D.N.Y. 1992) 

(corporation that was prevented from establishing an adult care facility for persons with AIDS 

because the facility did not conform to zoning ordinances had standing to sue). 

80 799 F. Supp. 450 (D.N.J. 1992). 

81 Under the FHA regulations, "[d]welling means any building, structure or portion thereof which 

is occupied as, or designed or intended for occupancy as, a residence by one or more families, 

and any vacant land which is offered for sale or lease for the construction or location thereon of 

any such building, structure or portion thereof" (24 CFR § 100.20). 

82 24 CFR § 100.201. 

83 United States v. Hughes Memorial Home, 396 F. Supp. 544, 549 (W.D. Va. 1975) (home for 

needy and dependent children was a dwelling because it was the residence of children); see also 

Patel v. Holley House Motels, 483 F. Supp. 374, 381 (S.D. Ala. 1979) (motel was not a dwelling 

because it provided lodging to transient guests); United States v. Columbus Country Club, 915 F. 

2d 877, 881 (3d Cir. 1990) (summer bungalows that were occupied 5 months per year were 

dwellings because the owners were not "mere transients"); Baxter v. City of Belleville, Ill., 720 F. 

Supp. 720, 731 (S.D. Ill. 1989) (hospice for individuals with AIDS was a dwelling because 

residents were not living there as "mere transients" even though the length of residence varied). 

84 Oxford House, Inc. v. Town of Babylon, No. CV 91-3591, 1993 WL 127711 (E.D.N.Y. Apr. 

20, 1993); Oxford House, Inc. v. Township of Cherry Hill,

799 F. Supp. 450 (D.N.J. 1992); Oxford House-Evergreen v. City of Plainfield, 769 F. Supp. 

1329 (D.N.J. 1991); United States v. Borough of Audubon, N.J., 797 F. Supp. 353 (D.N.J. 1991). 

85 Elliot v. City of Athens, Ga., 960 F. 2d 975 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, 113 S. Ct. 376 (1992). 

86 United States v. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 764 F. Supp. 220 (D.P.R. 1991). 

87 Baxter v. City of Belleville, Ill., 720 F. Supp. 720 (S.D. Ill. 1989). 

88 While there is no case law, treatment programs that provide short-term residential services, 

such as 28-day programs, may have a more difficult time proving that they are a "dwelling," 

because the program participants would reside at the programs for only brief periods. Therefore, 

some might claim that a program participant is more of a transient who does not view his or her 

room as a residence to return to. To counter such a claim, a short-term residential program would 

argue that no particular length of stay is required to qualify a place as one's "residence." In 

addition, while residing at a program, the patient considers it a residence, where he or she eats, 

conducts activities, and sleeps. 

89 Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555 (1992). 
90 811 F. 2d 171 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 849 (1987). 

91 Id. at 175-76. 

92 Greater Los Angeles Council on Deafness v. Zolin, 812 F. 2d 1103, 1115 (9th Cir. 1987). 

93 Id. 

94 704 F. 2d 1162, 1163 (9th Cir. 1983). 

95 Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555 (1992). 

96 Stewart B. McKinney Found. Inc. v. Town Plan & Zoning Comm'n of the Town of Fairfield,

790 F. Supp. 1197, 1210-11 (D. Conn. 1992). 

97 The reasonable-accommodation requirement is discussed below in conjunction with the 

disparate-impact cases, but it is important to remember that the reasonable-accommodation 

requirement is a separate and distinct ground for proving discrimination. Therefore, the failure to 

make a reasonable accommodation is ground for finding discrimination even if there is no 

discriminatory intent or effect. For example, in United States v. Village of Marshall (787 F. 

Supp. 872 (W.D. Wis. 1991)), a Federal court found that the village's refusal to grant an 

exception to a group home spacing requirement in order to permit a group home for individuals 

with mental illness to be sited within 2,500 feet of another group home constituted a failure to 

make a reasonable accommodation and was found to be discriminatory under the FHA. The 

court based its decision exclusively on the reasonable-accommodation provision, even though 

the plaintiff also claimed that the village intentionally discriminated against individuals with 

mental illness by bowing to community pressure to exclude the group house.. 

98 804 F. Supp. 683 (E.D. Pa. 1992), aff'd, 995 F. 2d 217 (3d Cir. 1993). 

99 Id. at 693-95. 

100 823 F. Supp. 1285 (D. Md. 1993). 

101 Id. at 1296-97. 

102 974 F. 2d 43 (6th Cir. 1992). 

103 Id. at 47-48. 

104 Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. v. Village of Arlington Heights, 558 F. 2d 1283 

(7th Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1025 (1978). 

105 797 F. Supp. 353 (D.N.J. 1991). 

106 Id. at 360-61. 
107 Association of Relatives and Friends of AIDS Patients v. Regulations & Permits Admin., 740 

F. Supp. 95, 104 (D.P.R. 1990). 

108 Audubon, 797 F. Supp. at 361. See also Support Ministries for Persons With AIDS, Inc. v. 

Village of Waterford, N.Y., 808 F. Supp. 120, 134 (N.D.N.Y. 1992). (City's passage of a new 

ordinance requiring boardinghouses to obtain special use permits and its refusal to issue a permit 

to the plaintiff for the establishment of an adult care facility for persons with AIDS violated the 

FHA. The court ruled that the city's actions were improperly motivated by the public bias against 

persons with AIDS and persons recovering from alcohol or other drug problems. The community 

had expressed fears about the transmission of AIDS and drugs in the neighborhood, and some 

residents had expressed both moral opposition to persons with AIDS and their belief that because 

individuals brought the disease on themselves, there was no obligation to treat them 

compassionately.) See also Association of Relatives and Friends of AIDS Patients, 740 F. Supp. 

at 104. (City's refusal to grant a special use permit to the plaintiffs to open an AIDS hospice in an 

area zoned for agriculture was based on discriminatory intent, because the city permitted the 

illegal prejudices of the community to influence its decisionmaking process. The community 

opposed the siting because of fears that mosquitoes might transmit human immunodeficiency 

virus to the community, the undesirability of having former drug users and homosexuals living in 

the neighborhood, the risk of transmitting AIDS-related diseases, and the risk that the hospice 

would lower property values and pose a danger to students at a nearby school.) 

109 At the time this manual was written (July 1995), the Banking and Financial Services 

Committee of the House of Representatives was debating the Regulatory Burden Relief Act 

(H.R. 1362), which included a provision that would eliminate the disparate-impact standard in 

the Fair Housing Act. Under the revised provision, statistical evidence of a pattern or practice of 

discrimination would not be sufficient to prove discrimination unless there is additional evidence 

that the pattern or practice actually discriminated against an individual or group on a prohibited 

basis and that the person engaged in the conduct with the purpose or intent to discriminate. 

The bill did not amend or eliminate the "effects" test in either the ADA or the Rehabilitation Act, 

and it is impossible to predict whether the bill will actually become law. 

110 Stewart B. McKinney Found., Inc. v. Town Plan and Zoning Comm'n of the Town of Fairfield,

790 F. Supp. 1197, 1219-21 (D. Conn. 1992). 

111 799 F. Supp. 450 (D.N.J. 1992). 

112 Id. at 461-63. See also Oxford House, Inc. v. Town of Babylon, 1993 WL 127711 (E.D.N.Y.) 

(town illegally discriminated when it tried to evict residents of Oxford House because they did 

not meet the definition of "family" in town's zoning code and failed to accommodate the 

plaintiffs by modifying the definition of "family" to permit the Oxford House residents to live in 

a single-family residential zone). 

113 790 F. Supp. 1197 (D. Conn. 1992). 

114 Id. at 1219-21. 
115 1992 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9124 (E.D. La. June 10, 1992). 

116 Id. 

117 923 F. 2d 91 (8th Cir. 1991). 

118 Id. 

119 The ADA's legislative history indicates that Congress intended to exclude the phrase "solely 

on the basis" because a literal reliance on it could lead to absurd results. As the legislative history 

points out, an employer could reject an applicant on the grounds that he has a disability and is 

African American. If a court required proof that the handicap was the sole reason for the 

rejection, the individual would be subject to discrimination that could not be remedied under 

section 504. To avoid this result under the ADA, the legislative history indicates that Congress 

modeled the title II language after that in the Federal regulations that implement section 504, 

which does not contain the "solely on the basis of" phrase. H. Rpt. 101-485, part II, at 85-86 

(1988), U.S.C.C.A.N. 303, 368. 

120 For example, the section 504 coordination regulations, which were issued to coordinate the 

implementation of section 504 across Federal agencies, exclude all reference to discrimination 

"solely on the basis of handicap" in their general prohibition against discrimination. They 

provide that "[n]o qualified handicapped person, shall, on the basis of handicap, be excluded 

from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under 

any program or activity that receives or benefits from federal financial assistance" (28 CFR 

§41.51(a)). 

121 For example, in Pushkin v. Regents of Univ. of Colo., 658 F. 2d 1372 (10th Cir. 1981), an 

individual with multiple sclerosis claimed that he was rejected from a residency program on the 

basis of his disability. While the members of the committee that rejected the plaintiff identified a 

number of reasons for their decision, the court found that most reasons centered primarily on the 

disability. 

122 H. Rpt. 101-485, part II, at 86 (1990), U.S.C.C.A.N. 303, 368. 

123 See analysis of the evidence of discriminatory actions in Sullivan v. City of Pittsburgh, 811 F. 

2d 171, 182-83 (3d Cir. 1987), which was decided under section 504. As noted above, the ADA 

standards are intended to be consistent with those under the Rehabilitation Act. 

124 42 U.S.C. §§ 3610-3612. 

125 42 U.S.C. § 3613. 

126 42 U.S.C. § 3614. 

127 Before filing a complaint with HUD, the entity should check with its local human rights 

commission or HUD to determine whether a State or local agency has responsibility for 
investigating housing discrimination complaints. Under the FHA, HUD is required to refer 

housing discrimination complaints to State or local agencies that HUD has certified as being 

"substantially equivalent" in terms of their procedures for resolving complaints and law. 

Approximately 30 States have been certified as being substantially equivalent. HUD will not act 

on any complaint that is filed from one of these States until the State agency has acted. 

128 42 U.S.C. § 3613(B)(2) and (3). 

129 42 U.S.C. § 3610(a) 

130 42 U.S.C. § 3613(a). 

131 42 U.S.C. § 3610(B)(iv). 

132 42 U.S.C. § 3610. 

133 42 U.S.C. § 3612(a) and (o). 

134 42 U.S.C. § 3610(g)(2)(C). 

135 42 U.S.C. § 3612(g). 

136 42 U.S.C. § 3614(b). 

137 The ADA provides that the enforcement procedures for title II are the same as those provided 

under the Rehabilitation Act (42 U.S.C. § 12133). 

138 28 CFR § 35.190. 

139 Zoning matters are not assigned to any agency, and thus by default would be referred to the 

Department of Justice (28 CFR § 35.190(b)(6)). 

140 28 CFR §§ 35.170, 35.172, 35.173, and 35.174. 

141 28 CFR § 35.172(b). 

142 Id. 

143 42 U.S.C. § 3612(g)(3). 

144 42 U.S.C. § 3613(c). 

145 42 U.S.C. § 3614(d). 

146 42 U.S.C. §§ 3612(p), 3613(c)(2), and 3614(d)(2). 
147 872 F. Supp. 423 (E.D. Mich. 1995). 

148 Id. at 443-445. 

149 797 F. Supp. 353 (D.N.J. 1991). 

150 Id. at 362-63. 

151 808 F. Supp. 120 (N.D.N.Y. 1992). 

152 Id. at 139-40. 

153 809 F. Supp. 1404 (D. Kan. 1992). 

154 Id. at 1406-08. 

155 29 U.S.C. § 794a. 

156 29 U.S.C. § 794a and 28 CFR § 35.175. 

157 29 U.S.C. § 794a. 

158 811 F. 2d 171 (3d Cir. 1987). 

159 29 U.S.C. § 794a and 28 CFR § 35.175. 

160 Although the discussion focuses on the U.S. Constitution, cases may be brought under the 

parallel equal protection clause of the various State constitutions. Some States have interpreted 

their State constitutional provisions to provide greater protection than the Federal Constitution, 

and therefore those provisions should be considered as grounds for suit. 

161 473 U.S. 442 (1985). 

162 Id. at 446-47. 

163 While the zoning ordinance also restricted the siting of group homes for individuals with 

alcohol and other drug problems, the case did not challenge the ordinance as applied to such 

individuals. Therefore, technically, the Court's decision did not affect the rights of individuals 

with alcohol and other drug problems. 

164 Several Justices who wrote opinions in the case noted that the Court was really applying a 

higher standard of scrutiny than the rational-basis test without admitting it. They noted that under 

the standard rational basis test, the statute would have been upheld. 

165 473 U.S. 442 (1985) at 447-50. 
166 Cleburne was decided before the FHAA was enacted. 

167 The following discussion relies on information provided in Peter W. Salsich, Jr. (1991), Land 

Use Regulation, Planning, Zoning, Subdivision Regulation, and Environmental Control,

Colorado Springs, CO: Shepard's/McGraw-Hill. 168 Ibid., 410. 

169 See United States v. City of Black Jack, 508 F. 2d 1179 (8th Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 422 U.S. 

1042 (1975). 

170 Id. at 411-12.

Chapter 4—Applying the Legal Principles

To understand how the above laws and legal strategies operate in a real situation, consider these 

two hypothetical cases, one involving the siting of a halfway house and the other, an outpatient 

methadone maintenance treatment program. The discussion that follows outlines how a legal 

challenge would be structured and the possible enforcement mechanisms and remedies. 

Case 1

The Situation

The Fresh Start alcohol and drug treatment program operates a residential treatment program for 

women and their children. Women who complete the 1-year rehabilitation program move into a 

halfway house as the second stage of their rehabilitation. The halfway house provides 

accommodations for 6 women and up to 10 children, who range in age from infancy to 15 years. 

At least two staff live in the house, and others come in to provide continuing care and other 

social services to the women and their children. Fresh Start has been operating one halfway 

house in the town without any problems, but it needs to open a second to serve six single women, 

who are ready to graduate, and their nine children. 

Fresh Start believes that it is important to locate its halfway houses in residential neighborhoods 

that are removed from neighborhoods rife with open drug trafficking. This permits the women 

and children to escape the negative influences that undermine recovery and to develop healthy 

new relationships in the community. 

Fresh Start has found a large house in a residential neighborhood that, with a few modifications, 

fits its needs perfectly. The house was used previously as a convalescent home for the elderly, 

but it has been vacant for 6 months. It would need to be renovated to subdivide some rooms to 

accommodate women with several children and to have the electrical system and plumbing 

updated to comply with safety codes. 

The program's attorney contacted the town's zoning commission to determine the permitted uses 

of property in the particular zone. The commission informed her that single- and multifamily 

residential uses were permitted. She then contacted the property manager and negotiated a 5-year 

rental agreement. The program paid a large security deposit and signed contracts with building 
contractors, electricians, and plumbers to do the renovations. The program also applied for an 

occupancy permit, which was required of all renters, and for building permits. 

Fresh Start contacted the residents of the neighborhood and invited them to the treatment facility 

in an effort to introduce the halfway house program to them and to facilitate the transition for the 

women. Few people attended, but those who did expressed concern that a halfway house did not 

fit into their neighborhood. They noted that the neighborhood was a mixture of elderly people, 

who would be disturbed by the large number of children, and young families, whose children 

would be negatively influenced by the children of drug-abusing women. They also expressed 

their fears of having men come into the neighborhood to visit the women and provide drugs in 

exchange for sex. 

Fresh Start attempted to allay the neighbors' concerns by discussing the strict standards with 

which the women must comply in order to reside in the halfway house and the women's need to 

reside in this type of a neighborhood. The program also discussed the experience of the 

neighborhood in which its other halfway house was located, noting that none of the stated fears 

had materialized. 

Despite the initial opposition, Fresh Start proceeded with its plans to renovate the dwelling. As 

part of the occupancy permit process, a building inspector visited the site. He indicated that the 

dwelling needed substantially more renovations than had been anticipated to comply with the 

building and zoning codes. According to the inspector, the facility was classified as an 

"intermediate care facility" that required additional safety features, including a sprinkler system 

and alarms as well as bars on all windows, and that required extra bathrooms because children 

would reside in the facility. These renovations were estimated to cost $40,000, which was far 

beyond the program's budget. 

Fresh Start's attorney met with the zoning commissioner and the town attorney to discuss the 

classification of the program as an intermediate care facility and the required renovations. The 

attorney explained that the facility was not providing any medical services that would bring it 

within the intermediate-care-facility classification, and she noted that the elder-care home that 

had occupied the dwelling previously had not been classified as such, even though it had 

provided medical services. Moreover, Fresh Start's other halfway house was not classified as an 

intermediate care facility. In addition, Fresh Start's attorney noted that other single- and 

multifamily dwellings with children did not have to install bars on their windows or provide a 

certain number of bathrooms according to family size. She asked that these building 

requirements be waived because of the financial burden. 

The zoning commissioner and town attorney refused to change the classification of the dwelling 

or to waive the requirements for obtaining an occupancy permit. The officials also noted that 

they had been receiving complaints from the neighborhood that residents did not want the 

facility. 

When the town council learned of the dispute, it decided to hold a public hearing to gather 

information about the halfway house and to ascertain the community's views. The public hearing 

was well attended. The spokesperson for the residents of the neighborhood told the town council 
that the halfway house did not belong in the neighborhood and that the halfway house residents 

presented a threat to other children and adults. He explained that the residents of the 

neighborhood did not want drugs brought among them and that they feared drug-related 

violence. He also warned Fresh Start that if it moved people into the home, neighbors would take 

every action to drive them out. Several other individuals expressed their personal views that 

mothers who use drugs should be thrown into jail to learn their lesson. Fresh Start representatives 

discussed the goals and successes of the treatment program and addressed the concerns of the 

neighbors. They offered to have staff and residents of the halfway house work with the 

neighborhood patrol to prevent drugs from being brought into the neighborhood. They also 

reiterated the view that the halfway house was being erroneously classified as an intermediate 

care facility. 

The town council and zoning commission members went into executive session following the 

hearing to determine what action to take. When Fresh Start's attorney met with the zoning 

commission chair the next day, the chair told her that the commission would like to help out, but 

it could not do so in the face of the intense community opposition, which was based on 

legitimate safety concerns. A sympathetic member of the zoning commission who had attended 

the executive session told the program's attorney that several commission members had agreed 

that the neighborhood should not have to open its doors to "a lot of drug- using women who 

should be punished for having children while smoking crack." 

Several months have passed since Fresh Start first rented the house. The program has been 

paying rent throughout this period while not being able to proceed with the renovations. In 

addition, the women's graduation date is upon them, and the program needs to take action to find 

a halfway house so that new clients can be enrolled in the residential program. Fresh Start has 

decided that it will have to take legal action to resolve the problem. 

The Legal Challenge

Fresh Start has several legal options. It could file an administrative action under the State's 

zoning enforcement procedures to challenge the zoning board's classification of the halfway 

house as an intermediate care facility and the application of special building requirements based 

on the presence of children. If it prevailed on this basis, it could eliminate many of the costly 

renovations, obtain an occupancy permit, and then move the residents in. However, it would still 

face the prospect of intense community opposition, which would make life more difficult for the 

women and children and possibly jeopardize their ability to remain in the house. The 

administrative agency that decides the appeal probably would not be able to enjoin the 

community prospectively from harassing the future residents. Therefore, Fresh Start would face 

the need to take additional legal action or to find another dwelling. 

Alternatively, Fresh Start could initiate a civil action under the Fair Housing Act or the 

Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). Suit could also be brought under the Rehabilitation Act 

to the extent that the zoning commission receives any Federal financial assistance. It is clear that 

all three antidiscrimination statutes apply because women who are recovering from alcohol and 

other drug problems have disabilities that affect the major life activity of being able to care for 
themselves. In addition, because of the community's reaction, the women are not able to obtain 

housing, which also constitutes a major life activity. 

Under the Fair Housing Amendments Act, the program could allege that it has been prohibited 

from renting the house because of its relationship with women who have disabilities. It could 

also allege that the town has failed to make a reasonable accommodation by refusing to waive 

the building requirements. In addition, the prospective tenants of the halfway house could sue the 

town for refusing, on the basis of disability, to provide them housing of their choice. 

In proving a violation, Fresh Start could prove that the town has operated with a discriminatory 

intent and that its classification of the program as an intermediate care facility and its refusal to 

waive the additional requirements have a discriminatory effect. 

With regard to discriminatory intent, the program would point to several factors that indicate that 

the zoning commission's decision was based on its desire to exclude the women because they had 

drug problems: 

The comments of several zoning commission members during the executive session meeting 

provide direct evidence of their discriminatory bias against women who use drugs. The same 

discriminatory attitudes characterized the community opposition, and the zoning officials 

admitted that they were carrying out the will of the community. 

The zoning commission departed from substantive criteria by classifying the halfway house as an 

intermediate care facility. That classification had not been applied to Fresh Start's other halfway 

house and, more important, had not been applied to the elder-care facility that had previously 

occupied the dwelling, even though medical services were, in fact, provided. In addition, the 

commission imposed building requirements—bars on windows and extra bathrooms—that were 

not required of other dwellings in which children resided. 

These factors clearly suggest that the classification and the additional building requirements were 

pretexts for not wanting to provide housing to women with drug problems. 

To prove disparate impact, Fresh Start would argue that the zoning commission's decision to 

impose costly renovations has a greater adverse impact on individuals with alcohol and other 

drug problems than on others. The cost of the renovations effectively precluded the halfway 

house from being established. The requirements also denied the recovering women the 

opportunity to reside in housing of their choice. If the zoning commission applied the same 

requirements to every dwelling in a residential neighborhood that Fresh Start sought to use as a 

halfway house, the women would be totally excluded from the town. 

Moreover, the disparate impact could be remedied easily by providing a reasonable 

accommodation of waiving all the additional building requirements and interpreting the intended 

use to mean that the halfway house would not be an intermediate care facility. 

To bolster its claim of disparate impact, Fresh Start would also be able to point to the evidence of 

discriminatory intent and the fact that it is seeking to get the town to remove barriers that prevent 

recovering women from getting housing rather than to compel the town to provide housing. 
To counter evidence of discriminatory effect, the town would probably argue that its concern 

about the continued safety of the neighborhood was a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for 

imposing the requirements. Fresh Start could rebut that argument in the following ways: 

There was no basis for claiming that the program would attract drug-related activities or that 

the children would negatively influence other children in the neighborhood (the experience of 

Fresh Start's other halfway house would prove that claim) 

Fresh Start had committed itself to work with the neighborhood to keep drug-related activities 

out 

The building requirements that were imposed would have no effect on remedying the 

neighbors' primary safety concern: the threat of drug-related activity. 

The town would also have a difficult time proving that it could not accommodate the halfway 

house by waiving all the additional building requirements. Because it did not impose the same 

safety codes on the elder-care home or on Fresh Start's other halfway house and did not require 

other multifamily dwellings to have bars on the windows for children, waiving these 

requirements would not have changed the town's zoning practices and would not alter the nature 

of the neighborhood. 

Proving a violation of the ADA would follow similar lines. Fresh Start could allege that the town 

has violated the ADA by denying the program the benefits of the zoning authority by imposing 

burdensome building requirements because the intended residents will be recovering women, by 

refusing to make reasonable accommodations in its building requirements, and by using its 

authority to issue occupancy permits in a way that limits the ability of recovering women to 

reside where they want and to receive the health services they need. 

Having developed its legal claims, Fresh Start would likely file a civil action in Federal court 

asking for several forms of relief: 

It would ask the court to enjoin the town from imposing the additional building requirements 

and classifying the halfway house as an intermediate care facility 

It would ask the court to enjoin the community and individuals from the community from 

interfering with the residents' enjoyment of the dwelling upon moving in and from taking any 

retaliatory actions against them 

It would seek to recover the monetary damages that it incurred by being forced to pay rent on 

the dwelling while not being able to enter it to do the necessary renovations, as well as any 

other costs incurred as a result of the town's discriminatory actions 

It would request reimbursement for the costs of litigation, including attorney fees. 

Finally, because Fresh Start needs to occupy the dwelling very soon, it might seek preliminary 

relief to temporarily enjoin the town from imposing the additional requirements and ordering the 

issuance of an occupancy permit so that it can begin to make the necessary renovations. 
Case 2

The Situation

The South Side Methadone Maintenance Treatment Program is an outpatient facility located in 

the business district of a large metropolitan area. It currently serves 130 clients. The State in 

which South Side is located has been increasing its funds for methadone treatment in order to 

rapidly expand services to individuals at high risk for human immunodeficiency virus disease. 

With its new funds, South Side will be able to provide services to an additional 100 people, 

many of whom have been on the program's waiting list. However, its current facility is crowded 

and cannot accommodate the new clients. 

South Side would like to build a second building next to its existing facility, on property that it 

already owns, so that the administrative staff can more easily supervise the services that will be 

provided in the second building, to keep staff in close proximity, and to have clients in one 

general location to facilitate group counseling sessions, which are integral to the program. 

Placing the services in one location will also help South Side monitor the activities of its clients. 

It would take 1 year to construct a building on the property South Side owns. To make services 

available immediately, South Side has decided to buy a large mobile trailer, locate it on the 

vacant property, and commence services within 2 months. 

South Side's attorney contacted the city's zoning commission to determine whether a mobile 

treatment unit could be placed on the vacant lot. The zoning commission explained that, under 

the zoning ordinance, a freestanding medical facility could not be placed within 4,500 feet of 

another such facility. The only way to get around the space limitation was to obtain a variance, 

which could be granted only after submission of an application and a public hearing. 

South Side's attorney applied for a variance. As part of the application, the program described the 

need for the services, the benefits that would come to the city if services were expanded, and the 

program's reasons for wanting to locate the trailer next to the existing facility. 

A public hearing was held shortly thereafter and was attended by virtually all the business 

owners within a six-block radius of the treatment program. Every person who spoke at the 

hearing opposed the request for a variance. Most expressed concern that having substantially 

more individuals with alcohol and other drug problems enter the immediate neighborhood would 

increase crime, drug trafficking, and loitering. Others complained that many prospective clients 

would have human immunodeficiency virus disease, which would bother those who shop and 

work at nearby stores. They noted that these factors would have a negative effect on business, 

which was already lagging. Others complained that the trailer would be an eyesore and detract 

from the neighborhood's aesthetics. Many expressed the view that they had put up with enough 

drug addicts in their neighborhood and should not have to tolerate more. 

South Side's director addressed many of the concerns of the speakers. He noted that the program 

had been operating in the neighborhood for over 10 years and had a good relationship with 

neighboring businesses. He explained that the program was very concerned about loitering and 
had instituted and would continue to enforce a strict policy to prohibit loitering. He also 

presented the most recent crime statistics for the area, which revealed that the crime rates for the 

neighborhood in which South Side was located were lower than those for every other 

neighborhood in the area. The director attributed the low crime rate, in part, to South Side's 

cooperation with local law enforcement and businesses to keep drug dealers out of the 

neighborhood. 

Finally, he noted that many other businesses and health facilities have used trailers as temporary 

structures, just as South Side intended to do. As an example he cited a health clinic two blocks 

from South Side that was using a trailer to provide medical and dental services while it built a 

second structure next to its original facility. The two facilities would eventually be located within 

the 4,500-square-foot space limitation, and the trailer was also within the space limitation. 

Two weeks after the hearing, the zoning commission denied South Side's request for a variance. 

The commission identified two reasons for the denial. First, it placed a heavy emphasis on the

community's sentiment, which was unanimously opposed to granting a variance. Second, it 

determined that granting the variance would constitute "spot zoning," which means that a zoning 

ordinance is unreasonably altered solely as it applies to a particular parcel of land. 

Having no other property on which it could locate its new facility, South Side decided to take 

legal action. 

The Legal Challenge

South Side has two options to challenge the city's decision: First, it could appeal the decision 

through the administrative appeal procedure; second, it could bring a civil action under the ADA. 

In evaluating the first option, South Side's attorney might determine that the zoning board often 

defers to the zoning commission's decision that a variance would result in spot zoning and thus 

that it would deny the appeal. He should also evaluate whether the zoning board gives fair 

weight to evidence of discrimination. If it does not, it would probably not be willing to override 

the commission's decision. 

South Side's second option—a civil action under the ADA—would hold greater promise of 

success. The program could claim that it was denied a variance because of its association with 

individuals who have disabilities (alcohol and other drug problems and human 

immunodeficiency virus disease) and that the city failed to provide a reasonable accommodation 

(a variance to site the facility within the 4,500-square-foot space limitation). 

To prove this claim, South Side would be able to show that individuals who are waiting to 

receive services at the new facility are persons with current alcohol and other drug problems who 

are protected under the ADA because they have disabilities that affect a major life activity. Even 

though the prospective clients are currently engaged in the illegal use of drugs, they are protected 

under the ADA because they are seeking health services. 
Second, South Side would be able to prove that the variance was denied because of the 

disabilities of such individuals. The community's opposition to the project focused exclusively 

on the fact that the clients were drug abusers, many of whom might have human 

immunodeficiency virus disease, and that the community did not want any more drug abusers in 

its neighborhood. While the community expressed fear of increased crime rates and drug 

trafficking, the fears were speculative, considering the evidence that crimes were at 

comparatively low rates in the neighborhood. 

The zoning commission's rationale, that granting a variance would constitute spot zoning, 

appears to be a pretext for not wanting drug abusers in the neighborhood. The commission had 

previously granted a variance for the health clinic several blocks away, thereby permitting other 

freestanding health facilities to be located within the 4,500-square-foot limitation. 

South Side could also prevail on its claim that the city failed to make a reasonable 

accommodation by not granting a variance. Permitting a second methadone program within the 

4,500-square-foot limitation would not constitute an undue burden on the community's plan or 

alter its character. The city had already permitted the location of other health facilities in close 

proximity to each other. In addition, South Side had rebutted any concern that the program 

would increase crime or loitering and had committed its resources to continuing its efforts to 

prevent crime and loitering. 

In requesting relief, South Side would seek an order requiring the zoning commission to grant a 

variance. It would also request that the court award it the costs of litigation, including attorney 

fees, if it prevailed. Finally, to ensure that it can begin to provide new services as soon as 

possible, the program could request that the court consider the matter on an expedited basis.

Chapter 5—Building the Case: To Site or To Sue

Siting an alcohol or drug treatment facility does not have to lead to a legal battle. Many treatment 

providers have overcome the not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) syndrome through outreach and 

educational efforts that have dispelled neighbors' misconceptions and fears about treatment and 

persons in recovery, leading opponents to reconsider their resistance. Other providers prefer to 

go about siting their facilities as quietly as possible, hoping not to stir up any attention that could 

lead to opposition. If opposition does arise, these providers use the threat of litigation to dissuade 

the community from taking any discriminatory actions. A provider should make every effort to 

site a program without resorting to legal challenges, while keeping in mind that community and 

official responses to its efforts may be valuable evidence if it ends up in court. This chapter 

discusses the nonlegal strategies that have proved to be particularly effective in defusing 

neighborhood hostility. It also provides suggestions on steps that a provider should take and 

information that it should gather throughout these efforts in the event that legal action is 

ultimately required. 

Reaching Out to The Community

For many programs, outreach is the key to opening new facilities and avoiding prolonged and 

difficult disputes with neighbors. By being aware of and sensitive to community concerns, many 
programs are able to turn opposition into acceptance, making the siting of the facility easier for 

community residents, for the treatment program, and ultimately for the program's clients. 

To assist programs with such outreach and educational efforts, the National Institute on Drug 

Abuse recently developed a resource manual entitled Overcoming Barriers to Drug Abuse 

Treatment.1 Based on extensive research and the experiences of treatment providers, 

communities, and single State agencies, the manual recommends that a program do its 

homework on a community in which it plans to site a facility, approach the community and its 

leaders openly, dispel myths about alcoholics and other drug abusers who are in recovery, and 

try to help community residents understand what treatment is and the benefits that it provides. 

The following guidelines are based on the principles outlined in the National Institute on Drug 

Abuse manual and suggestions from treatment providers who have waged successful community 

outreach and education campaigns. 

Knowing the Community

Before proceeding with its plans, a provider should become familiar with the particular character 

and attitudes of the community in which it intends to site a facility. The provider should 

determine who is likely to understand the need for treatment and to lend support for the proposed 

facility. Natural allies could include teachers, the police, human service providers, and charitable 

organizations. The provider should also determine who the likely opponents are, such as real 

estate developers and homeowner associations. 

If the provider is planning to site the facility in a specific neighborhood due to its high incidence 

of drug abuse, it should try to assemble statistics that demonstrate the need for treatment in that 

area. Such data may also be valuable in litigation to demonstrate that excluding the program 

would have a discriminatory effect on the neighborhood or that establishing the program would 

contribute to the general welfare of the region. 

Finally, the provider should determine who the important "formal" (mayor, councilpersons, 

zoning board of adjustment members) and "informal" (religious and business leaders) 

decisionmakers are, as well as the factors that might influence their support. The provider should 

consider the timing of its efforts; political leaders are often more sensitive to community pressure 

during an election year. It should also determine whether there have been battles in the past over 

the siting of similar facilities. This information could be useful to prove a pattern or tendency to 

discriminate against persons with alcohol or other drug problems. The more a provider knows 

about the community before it starts the siting process, the better its chances of success. 

Cultivating Community Support

The provider of a proposed treatment facility should attempt to meet with as many community 

leaders as possible, even those who are not directly involved in approving the facility. Program 

representatives should speak to block and tenant associations, business groups, and churches, as 

well as local government officials. Often, NIMBY opposition is triggered by a community's 

belief that it has not been fully informed or consulted. By meeting with leaders throughout the 

community, the provider can ensure that all interested parties have been included. 
One way the provider can overcome community distrust is to have leaders and residents from 

other communities in which it provides services discuss their experiences with members of the 

new community. It can arrange meetings between mayors, members of community boards, and 

police departments, or it can have a homeowner meet with the families who live close by the site 

of the proposed facility. There are two advantages to this tactic: the community is more likely to 

trust and identify with others in its position, and the treatment provider's ability to turn out

support from other communities in which its programs are located represents a tremendous vote 

of confidence. 

Another key to successful siting is to build strong relationships with the local media. The 

National Institute on Drug Abuse has developed public service announcements that emphasize 

the effectiveness of treatment, which community programs can provide to local television and 

radio stations. 

An especially effective means of cultivating community support is to form an advisory board that 

includes community leaders. Giving community leaders a role in the planning and operation of 

the facility can stem fears and reassure residents that the program has proper oversight. One 

treatment provider in California was able to overcome local resistance by placing a leader of the 

community group opposing its facility on the program's board. 

To the extent that these efforts do not win community approval, they provide a fertile ground for 

gathering evidence of discriminatory intent. Documenting the comments of residents and local 

officials and the media's characterization of the program or its residents are critical if the 

provider has to build a legal case and to prove that disability was considered inappropriately in a 

siting decision. In addition, if local officials refuse to meet with the provider or discuss its 

proposal, it can evaluate whether this behavior reveals a bias, particularly if officials routinely 

meet with groups that try to site other types of facilities. 

Carefully Selecting a Site

One of the most important decisions a provider will make is determining where to locate a 

facility. It must take into account not only the zoning ordinances that govern the property, which 

may affect the type and size of facilities that can be constructed or sited, but also additional 

factors that can determine the degree of community resistance that it may encounter. 

For example, if the provider decides to build a treatment facility close to a school or in an area 

already saturated with similar services, it could face difficulties that it would not have 

encountered if it had chosen a different site that still met its needs. The provider may succeed in 

ultimately siting its program in the original location, either through extensive negotiations or 

litigation, but adopting strategies to avoid such costly efforts should be emphasized. 

Obtaining Legal Advice

A provider should obtain legal advice as early as possible when selecting a site for its program. 

An attorney should be able to identify all the zoning, health, and safety requirements that apply 

to the prospective facility under the zoning ordinance. The attorney should also be able to 
determine whether any requirements are facially invalid or will have a discriminatory effect or 

whether a reasonable accommodation would enable the provider to satisfy the ordinance 

requirements. 

The attorney can also threaten to file a lawsuit to the extent that local officials are not willing to 

work with the provider to find an appropriate site, are bowing to community pressure to not site 

the program, or are applying the zoning ordinance erroneously. Officials often change their 

positions when informed about legal precedents that prohibit the decisions and actions that they 

are considering. Sometimes, local officials need the "cover" provided by legal precedents to 

make the right decision. 

Legal help may also be available from public or private fair housing enforcement groups. For 

example, the Department of Housing and Urban Development provides funds to approximately 

25 fair housing agencies to enforce the Fair Housing Amendments Act. In addition, protection 

and advocacy agencies exist in all States and provide legal assistance on discrimination in 

housing to individuals with disabilities. 

It is important to remember that this manual is only a guide on the legal challenges that may be 

available. It is necessary to have an attorney who will be able to evaluate the provider's particular 

situation for possible statutory or constitutional violations. 

Planning a Facility Carefully and Being Prepared To Make Accommodations

Many communities are concerned that proposed development projects will not "fit in." Many 

projects, including commercial developments, are delayed for this reason. A provider should take 

community concerns into account and modify whatever aspects of the new facility it can to meet 

their concerns. Again, the provider might be able to challenge successfully official or community 

requests to modify particular features on the ground that such requirements will have a 

discriminatory effect or are inappropriately based on the disability of future residents. However, 

if such challenges can be avoided without burdening the program, the provider should 

accommodate the requests. 

Altering the size or appearance of a facility in order to make it architecturally consistent with 

neighboring buildings might make a community more receptive. Changing the name of the 

program might reduce opposition. For example, a program agreed to substitute "rehabilitation" 

for "alcoholism" in its name in order to win approval. 

Planning and zoning boards, as well as fire and health inspectors, may require numerous 

technical modifications for a new or expanded facility. Such requirements may be legitimate, or 

they may be used as a pretext to block the opening of the program. Regardless of the motivation 

for the requirements, the program is obligated to bring the facility up to them to the extent that 

they are warranted by the unique needs of the individuals who will be using the facility. Again, 

an attorney would be useful to help evaluate which requirements are necessary versus those that 

could be construed as unnecessary and discriminatory hurdles. 
Educating the Community

Many communities have tremendous misconceptions about treatment programs and the people 

they serve. As noted above, a critical component of any siting effort is to dispel these myths 

through community education. It is important that local decisionmakers and residents understand 

that treatment programs help communities by reducing many of the costly problems associated 

with active alcohol and other drug abuse and that treatment enables former users to return to 

productive lives. 

A community board or zoning commission hearing, which is a standard element in most siting 

processes, presents a provider with an excellent forum to speak directly to its opponents and to 

demonstrate that its treatment program will be effective in treating alcohol and other drug abuse. 

The provider should explain the goals of the program, how it works, and why the disputed site 

has been chosen. Having an individual in recovery attend the hearing and describe how treatment 

has benefited his or her life may be useful. 

Many communities resist treatment programs because the fear that active users and dealers will 

be drawn to the neighborhood and that crime will subsequently increase. The provider can 

address these fears in various ways. For example, it could explain to the community—

How treatment encourages abstinence and prevents clients from relapsing, 

How the program monitors client drug use through urinalysis and other measures, and 

The program's rules of conduct, including how it enforces curfews and supervises individuals 

who are allowed to travel outside the program site. 

The provider might also agree to participate in anticrime activities in the neighborhood. This 

would demonstrate its commitment to maintaining a safe community. 

Another common fear is that the presence of a treatment program in the neighborhood will cause 

property values to decline. One way the provider can address this issue is to examine property 

values in other neighborhoods in which treatment programs operate. The single State alcohol and 

other drug agency may have conducted a study on the impact of alcohol and other substance 

abuse treatment on local property values that will provide assistance.2Even if the provider 

cannot obtain such information, it can still explain that its program will provide an important 

service that can only improve the community. 

The hearing process also serves several important purposes if litigation becomes necessary (the 

provider should therefore obtain a transcript or a recording of the hearing proceedings): 

The provider can gather statements from residents and local officials who oppose the siting, 

which will be useful to prove that the locality is acting with a discriminatory intent to exclude 

persons with alcohol or drug problems. 

The provider can create a record that proves that it has responded to any of the neighborhood's 

legitimate health and safety concerns. To the extent that an adverse decision is then based on 

these concerns, the provider can demonstrate that they are simply pretexts for an underlying 

discriminatory intent. 
The provider can perhaps get the local officials to identify their reasons for opposing the project 

and then evaluate whether or not those reasons are legitimate. Moreover, if the reasons for 

opposing the project change over time, the provider can perhaps demonstrate that these 

reasons are simply pretexts to obscure an underlying desire to exclude individuals with alcohol 

and other drug problems from the community. 

The provider can identify ways to modify the locality's practices and procedures in order to 

accommodate the program's needs and demonstrate why such modifications will not impose a 

burden on the locality or alter the nature of the neighborhood. If the locality refuses to provide 

an accommodation by claiming an undue burden, the provider will have a record to 

demonstrate that such an accommodation is reasonable. 

Demonstrating Willingness To Be Part of The Community

There are a number of tangible benefits that a provider of treatment services can offer a 

community to demonstrate its commitment to being a good neighbor. First of all, it can offer 

what it does best: provision of alcohol and other drug treatment. It can perhaps guarantee that 

local residents will have priority in receiving services. In addition, the program counselors can 

go into local schools and community centers to provide prevention and outreach services for 

youth, or they can work with the police and the courts to assess persons arrested for driving 

while intoxicated. 

The provider can also propose to be a resource in other ways. Staff and residents can work as 

volunteers at the local nursing home, clean the park, or rebuild an abandoned apartment house. 

Representatives of the program can get involved in civic groups. The provider can pledge to hire 

from within the community and make purchases from local merchants. Whatever it chooses to 

do, it is important that it show that it is willing to have a stake in the community. 

To the extent that the provider's efforts to reach out are rejected or met with hostility, it can use 

these responses as further evidence of community opposition to site its program on the basis of 

the disability of the individuals who will eventually use the facility. 

Initiating Legal Action

While the above recommendations have proved to be helpful to many programs, they certainly 

do not guarantee success. A provider must continually evaluate whether there is any likelihood 

of winning approval without initiating legal action. An attorney can help the provider determine 

when it may be necessary to discuss with local officials the legal protections that prohibit 

discrimination on the basis of disability and to discontinue conciliatory efforts. 

If the provider decides to take legal action, it should consult an attorney to determine the best 

approach to take. It will need to determine the following:

What legal claims it has and the strength of its case 

Whether it wants to sue in State or Federal court or file an administrative action under the 

Federal antidiscrimination laws 
Whether it wants to ask the Attorney General to become involved in the matter so that it can 

benefit from the Federal Government's resources and expertise in developing and litigating 

cases. 

If the provider has few resources to pursue litigation, it should not walk away from the problem. 

The Federal antidiscrimination laws authorize the party that wins a suit to recover attorney fees 

and the costs of litigation. The provider may be able to find an attorney who will take its case 

without a large investment of funds if the prospect of winning and recovering fees exists. The 

provider may also choose to pursue the administrative complaint procedure that exists under the 

antidiscrimination laws, particularly that under the Fair Housing Amendments Act, because the 

administrative agency will conduct the investigation and gather evidence on the provider's behalf 

without cost. While the remedies may differ under an administrative complaint procedure and a 

civil court action, the provider can still accomplish its primary goal of siting its program. 

____________________ 

1 National Institute on Drug Abuse (1992), Overcoming Barriers to Drug Abuse Treatment,

Rockville, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse. 

2

The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law (formerly the Mental Health Law Project) in 

Washington, DC, has extensive information on housing discrimination, including a bibliography 

of social science research on the economic and environmental impact of group homes on 

neighboring property.

Conclusion

In the search for effective ways to deal with the Nation's alcohol and other drug problems, it is 

often ironic that communities and local officials waste precious resources and time fighting the 

establishment of treatment programs. However, effective models exist for winning community 

and official approval to site new programs and expand facilities, and when those efforts fail, 

strong legal protections exist to fight discrimination. 

It is also important to remember, however, that once a treatment program has opened its facility, 

either through legal action or through a persuasive educational campaign, the battle is not over. 

Fences must continually be tended and repaired. Studies show that communities that opposed 

treatment programs generally become more accepting over time, as they see the benefits that the 

programs bring. However, neglecting community relations, even for a short time, can open old 

rifts or create new ones that can make future operations or expansion difficult.