FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                    CR
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1994                                 (202) 616-2765
                                                         TDD (202) 514-1888


            JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SUES CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA 
        FOR DISCRIMINATING AGAINST DISABLED PERSONS LIVING TOGETHER

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Justice Department today
challenged a Charlotte, North Carolina law which attempted to
disperse group homes for disabled persons and which required that
they be shielded from adjacent residential properties by trees and
shrubs.
     In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Charlotte, the
government charged that the city violated the Fair Housing Act by
using its zoning ordinances to discriminate against persons with
disabilities such as autism, AIDS and disabilities associated with
aging.
     "We must not allow persons with disabilities to become second
class citizens or to be subjected to restrictions that only apply
to them," said Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Deval L.
Patrick.  "When a city discriminates against its citizens because
of their disabilities, it is violating the law."
     Today's suit claims that the city's zoning ordinance forbids
all disabled persons living in group homes from locating within
one-quarter mile of each other and requires homes of seven or more
people to have buffers of trees and shrubs separating them from
other residential properties.  Homes for non-disabled persons,
including group homes for unrelated persons are not subject to
these restrictions.
     The suit also asserts that the city prevented a home for
people with autism from relocating to the lot next door.  The home,
run by Mecklenburg Autistic Group Homes, Inc., is already located
within one quarter mile from another group home, but is currently
grandfathered in.  Charlotte has refused to extend this exempt
status to the home if it makes the move.
     The suit also alleges that the city blocked a home for people
with AIDS, the Taylor Home of Charlotte, from locating within a
single-family district in Charlotte.  The city insisted the
residents are not persons "who need sheltered living conditions for
rehabilitation" as required by the zoning ordinance's definition of
group home because people with AIDS cannot be rehabilitated. 
Groups of unrelated non-disabled persons are not subject to that
definition.
     The complaint asks the court to prohibit Charlotte from
further discrimination, to award compensatory damages to the
victims of the city's discriminatory policies, and to assess
punitive damages and civil penalties.
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