Assignment:
200 words each with 1 reference
Part I. Reread the memo about fair housing
Explain how you serve the council even though their ideas might differ from the public good. Can you argue that serving the council's decision is serving the public good?
Part II. If you were the city manager in the situation from the first DQ. Would you implement the policy? Explain why. Discuss the challenges that might occur if someone did choose to implement the policy.
SUMMARY: Residents from the Woodland Hills and Pineview Estates Subdivisions approached the Town about a Residential Care Facility that would be locating in Pineview Estates.
The Fair Housing Act applies to Residential Care Facilities. This means that individuals in this country have the right to choose where they live and prohibits housing discrimination based on color, national origin, religion, gender, substance abusers and the mentally ill; provided certain permitted restrictions are met.
DISCUSSION:
Neighbors in this area have expressed concerns regarding the location of the facility; however, the Town cannot consider the feelings of neighbors in making a decision about granting a permit to a residential care facility that serves six or fewer persons. In the same way a local government would break the law if it rejected low-income housing in a community because of neighbors' fears that such housing would be occupied by racial minorities, a local government can violate the Fair Housing Act if it blocks a group home or denies a requested reasonable accommodation in response to neighbors' stereotypical fears or prejudices about persons with disabilities. This is so even if the individual government decision-makers are not themselves personally prejudiced against persons with disabilities. If the evidence shows that the decision-makers were responding to the wishes of their constituents, and that the constituents were motivated in substantial part by discriminatory concerns that could be enough to prove a violation. Moreover, there is a specific Arizona statute (A.R.S. § 36-582, attached) that requires a city or town to treat such facilities as a permitted residential use. This statue does allow a city or town to enforce its other zoning and building code provisions.
However, the Town may have a provision in the Code to meet all requirements of a Conditional Use Permit. This allows the Town to require conditions such as licenses, certificates, permits or registrations. If these cannot be produced, or if other conditions are not met, the Town is able to revoke the Permit.
RECOMMENDATION: Staff Recommends approving the proposed language changes with the clear understanding that the Fair Housing Laws still apply in these situations.
Readings:
The Role of Ethical Public Service in Promoting the Public Good
By Joseph G. Jarretf