Civil Rights

Bilzin Sumberg Civil Rights Case Garners Support of U.S. Department of Justice
Miami, FL

The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit today against the City of Boca Raton alleging that the city’s zoning ordinance restricting sober living facilities to specified areas violates the federal Fair Housing Act. The suit filed by the DOJ follows ongoing litigation initiated by a sober living facility in Boca Raton known as Boca House, along with several of its residents, challenging the ordinance.

William K. Hill, a partner with the Litigation Group at Bilzin Sumberg, represents plaintiffs Boca House and its companion facility for women, Awakenings. The individual resident plaintiffs are represented by West Palm Beach attorney James Green through the ACLU. Boca House and Awakenings are facilities that provide recovering drug and alcohol addicts with sober living residences, which are stable, supportive housing environments that help their residents re-adjust to residential life.

The case brought by Bilzin Sumberg and the ACLU on behalf of the plaintiffs alleges that the City of Boca Raton has violated the civil rights of Boca House, Awakenings and the six individual plaintiffs. The complaint cites unlawful and intentional discrimination by the city under the Fair Housing Act (FHA), Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution.

The City of Boca Raton enacted the zoning ordinance, later amended in 2003, to prohibit sober living residences from continuing to operate in any residentially-zoned area of the city. The ordinance also provides a very restricted definition of “family” for the purposes of residential areas, and severely limits where such a sober living facility can be established. According to the complaint, this would create a type of “ghetto living” for recovering addicts.

“The kinds of facilities provided by our client Boca House are critical to the ongoing recovery of addicts, and residents are monitored to ensure they remain sober as part of the conditions of living there,” stated Hill. “These people are qualified as handicapped within the meaning of the Fair Housing Act and the ADA, and for them, the threat of relapse is greatly mitigated by the living environments Boca House and Awakenings provide.”

“My client is proud of the work he and his staff do, and he is proud of the residents who are working so hard to overcome this debilitating disease and retake control of their lives,” Hill added. “They think they should continue to be allowed to live in Boca Raton.”

“The deliberately discriminatory actions taken by the City of Boca Raton are simply repugnant,” he further noted. “We wouldn’t do this to a group of people living together trying to recover from any other illness or physical handicap. How could we possibly allow this kind of discrimination to stand? The city should be ashamed.”
“It takes a lot of courage for anyone, particularly people in recovery, to stand up to City Hall, and I am very proud of my clients for doing so. They are particularly gratified that the U.S. Department of Justice has weighed in on their behalf,” ACLU attorney Green said.

The original complaint cites official minutes from City Council meetings, including remarks by the city’s attorney, mayor and council members. The remarks support the plaintiffs’ allegations that the ordinance in question was specifically drafted to discriminate against this particular group of handicapped individuals by prohibiting sober living areas in residential neighborhoods.

“Civil rights in this country are supposed to protect everyone, especially members of a vulnerable population,” said Hill.