City of San Jacinto, Disability Discrimination, California 2012

The City of San Jacinto, California, has agreed to end its discriminatory housing practices, including imposing restrictions on housing for persons with disabilities, in a settlement reached with the U.S. government.

According to the settlement, San Jacinto has changed its laws to comply with the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and has agreed to pay a total of $746,599 in compensatory damages to housing providers and former residents with disabilities, including private plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees and costs, as well as a $10,000 civil penalty to the United States.

The Justice Department’s complaint, which was filed in November 2012, alleged that San Jacinto violated the FHA and the ADA by enacting an ordinance intended to exclude unlicensed and some licensed homes for persons with disabilities from the city, and by targeting homes for persons with disabilities for enforcement of the ordinance and other local laws.

“Municipalities and other governmental entities cannot violate federal civil rights statutes by hiding behind intentionally discriminatory laws designed to appear neutral on their face,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Civil Rights Division.

The city’s enforcement efforts included an early morning sweep of unlicensed group homes for persons with disabilities by city officials in November 2008, including the city attorney and representatives of the city’s Code Enforcement and Public Works Departments, as well as armed and uniformed law enforcement officers of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department acting as agents for the city.

“Federal laws protect the fair housing rights of all people, and no local zoning or harassment can change that,” said the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Acting Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity Dave Ziaya.

The case arose from complaints filed with HUD by two providers of housing for persons with disabilities in the city, which were investigated and referred to the Justice Department. The settlement prohibits the city from imposing restrictions on housing for persons with disabilities that are not imposed on housing for an equal or greater number of persons without disabilities.

Related Federal Cases