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. # # # 94-667