FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          CR
FRIDAY, MAY 31, 1996                               (202) 616-2765
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888


     JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SUES ST. LOUIS SUBURB FOR BLOCKING A
             HOME FOR PEOPLE WITH ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Justice Department today asked a
federal court to keep a St. Louis suburb from blocking the opening
of a home for eight people with Alzheimer's disease. 
     In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in St. Louis, the
Justice Department asserted that Creve Coeur, Missouri, violated
the Fair Housing Act when it ordered Dolan Residential Care Centers
(DRCC) to stop constructing the home in November 1995.  
     The partially-completed home on Conway Road, which has
suffered extensive weather damage over the winter, will house eight
residents who will be supervised at all times.
     The complaint alleged that the city refused to give zoning
approval to CURA, Inc, and then to DRCC, the organizations which
have been seeking to build the residential home.  It claimed that
the city violated the Act because it failed to reasonably
accommodate persons with a handicap and refused the approval
because the residents were handicapped.
     "People with Alzheimer's deserve to have a place to call home
like everyone else," said Assistant Attorney General for Civil
Rights Deval L. Patrick. "Cities have a legal duty not to
discriminate against persons with disabilities when making zoning
decisions and to reasonably accommodate homes for the people with
disabilities."
     Creve Coeur's zoning ordinance permits group homes for up to
eight people in single-family neighborhoods.  Although the
ordinance does not require group homes to be non-profit, the city
claimed the ordinance would prohibit the home because it was first
planned by a for-profit organization.
     Under federal law, even if the city's claim was proven true,
it must still allow group homes where they are compatible with
other homes in the neighborhood.  "A home like this one will have
the same impact on the neighborhood, whether it is operated for
profit or not," added Patrick. 
     CURA currently operates a group home for six people with
Alzheimer's on Mason Manor Road, in an area that was annexed by
Creve Coeur after the home opened.
     A similar suit filed last month by CURA, DRCC, and a potential
resident will likely be considered together by the court.

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