Lawrence County Recovery v Village of Coal Grove, Ohio (S.D. Ohio)

On December 6, the United States filed a Statement of Interest in Lawrence County Recovery v. Village of Coal Grove (S.D. Ohio). The case concerns housing for persons in recovery from substance abuse disorders, individuals who qualify as disabled persons under the FHA. Lawrence County Recovery operates two self-directed “independent living” homes with no on-site staff in Coal Grove for persons in addiction recovery; each home has a maximum of six residents. Plaintiffs filed suit following the Village of Coal Grove’s attempts to prohibit housing for persons in recovery in a variety of ways, including enacting a moratorium on recovery homes. The United States’s Statement of Interest clarifies that the FHA extends to persons in addiction recovery and that municipalities are subject to the FHA. Ensuring that courts recognize the FHA’s protections extend to persons recovering from addiction is particularly important in Ohio, where rates of deaths from drug overdoses remain notably higher than the national average.