Tsombanidis v. City of West Haven
| Decision Date | 28 December 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. 3:98CV01316(GLG).,3:98CV01316(GLG). |
| Citation | 180 F.Supp.2d 262 |
| Parties | Beverly TSOMBANIDIS, Oxford House, Inc., and John Does One Through Seven (Current and prospective residents of 421 Platt Avenue, West Haven, Connecticut), Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF WEST HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, First Fire District of the City of West Haven, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut |
Jonathan B. Orleans, Sarah W. Poston, Zeldes, Needle & Cooper, Bridgeport, CT, Steven G. Polin, Washington, DC, for Plaintiffs.
Michael P. Farrell, West Haven, CT, Martin S. Echter, Office of Corporation Counsel, New Haven, CT, Thomas R. Gerarde, Melinda P. Frechette, Howd & Ludorf, Hartsford, CT, for Defendants.
FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
This action is brought under the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968, as amended by the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988, 42 U.S.C. §§ 3601, et seq. ("FHAA"), and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 12131-12165 ("ADA"). Plaintiffs allege that the defendants' application and enforcement of the City's zoning, building, and property maintenance codes, and the State Fire Safety Code to a group home for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts discriminates against persons with a disability or handicap, in violation of these federal statutes.
Following an eight-day bench trial, the Court renders the following Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law:
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. The property at 421 Platt Avenue in West Haven, Connecticut is known as Oxford House-Jones Hill (hereinafter "OH-JH" or "the House"). It is a two-story house with a yard, located on a .34 acre lot in a residential area of detached single-family houses. The area is zoned as an "R-2 District," in which only single-family residences are permitted. (West Haven Zoning Regulations, Art. II, Ch. 2, § 2-2.1B.1.a.)
2. Plaintiff, Beverly Tsombanidis, owns the property at 421 Platt Avenue, West Haven, Connecticut. She purchased it in July 1997 after it had been vacant for approximately two years. Since August 1997, the property has been continuously used as OH-JH.
3. Plaintiffs John Does One through Seven are current and/or prospective residents of OH-JH. They are all in recovery from drug and/or alcohol addiction. While there may have been eight residents of OH-JH during a short period immediately after OH-JH was established, the number of residents needed to fill the House has been seven since that time and will not exceed seven.
4. Oxford House, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as "OHI") is an umbrella organization for over 900 independent Oxford Houses operating nation- and world-wide. It is a nonprofit, tax-exempt, Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Silver Spring, Maryland.
5. Oxford Houses are unsupervised, independent residences for men or women recovering from drug and/or alcohol addiction.
6. Currently, there are twenty-six Oxford Houses in the State of Connecticut, and seven, including OH-JH, in the greater New Haven area.
7. Defendant, the City of West Haven (hereinafter referred to as "the City" or "West Haven"), is a municipal corporation within the State of Connecticut and organized under the laws of the State of Connecticut. West Haven has authority to enforce its Zoning Regulations (included in the Land Use Regulations of the City of West Haven), the State Building Code,1 and Property Maintenance Code2 over land and dwellings within its boundaries.
8. Defendant First Fire District of the West Haven Fire Department (hereinafter referred to as "the Fire District") is a political subdivision of the State of Connecticut, located wholly within the City of West Haven, and has the authority to enforce the State Fire Safety Code within the City of West Haven.
9. Oxford Houses are financially self-sustaining and OH-JH does not receive, and has not received, support from governmental or other sources. Oxford Houses operate on the premise that people in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction will succeed in remaining sober if they live in a highly supportive environment where substance abuse is non-existent and actively resisted. Many Oxford House residents have made multiple attempts at recovery prior to their arrival at an Oxford House. Statistics indicate that the average length of stay in an Oxford House is thirteen months. A founder of Oxford House claims that eighty percent of those who live in an Oxford House maintain long-term sobriety.
10. The first Oxford House was established in 1975 by Paul Molloy and others. OHI was established in 1987. Since that time, Oxford Houses have been established in thirty-four states in this country as well as two other countries around the world.
11. Through local chapters, OHI facilitates the initiation of each new Oxford House, by providing information and contacts with other local Oxford Houses, and ensuring that experienced Oxford House residents from an established house are available to serve as the core for the new Oxford House.
12. The ground rules for every Oxford House are the same: 1) the house is not supervised and is governed democratically by its residents; 2) the house is rented, and the rent is paid by the residents; and 3) any resident who uses drugs or alcohol is immediately expelled. Thus, an Oxford House is able to carry on in spite of changes in the number of residents, in order to maintain the therapeutic community that is the essence of the Oxford House model.
13. In addition to these ground rules, OHI has observed that Oxford Houses that meet the following criteria are much more likely to succeed: 1) location in single-family residential neighborhoods, not close to neighborhoods where drugs and alcohol are easily available; 2) proximity to the site(s) of regular Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings; 3) near a commercial area substantial enough to provide residents with easy access to basic necessities such as groceries and household items; 4) near a range of sites of employment, and/or close to public transportation so that residents can travel to their jobs; 5) large enough for a minimum of six people to live, yet small enough that bedrooms are shared by the residents. To the extent they meet these criteria, Oxford Houses are designed to allow people in recovery from addiction to create a temporary home, and return to sober, productive lives.
14. All of these findings are consistent with fundamental principles of recovery. Alcoholism and drug addiction are lifetime diseases. They are chronic, progressive and, ultimately, fatal. Avoiding relapse and progressing in recovery, therefore, are important aspects of a recovering addict's life. Finding and staying in a healthy, functional environment, surrounded by people who are not abusing alcohol or drugs, away from people and situations that previously triggered substance use, with access to transportation and work opportunities, are essential elements to avoiding relapse.
15. The efficacy of the Oxford House model, as a means of helping individuals recovering from alcoholism and drug addiction to prevent relapse and maintain a sober lifestyle, has been recognized by the United States Congress. See 135 Cong. Rec. H4860-02, 1989 WL 196098. In passing the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, P.L. 100-690, § 2036, Congress made federal block grant funds available to States to create a revolving fund for interest-free, short-term loans to groups of people in recovery who rent homes that: 1) are democratically self-governing; 2) are self-supporting; and 3) immediately expel anyone who uses drugs or alcohol. In sum, the Oxford House model is a highly successful, rehabilitative method, particularly when its members attend Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous (or similar organizations') meetings.
16. A long-time resident of West Haven and active in community service for over twenty years, plaintiff Beverly Tsombanidis bought 421 Platt Avenue with the intention of creating a place where people in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction would work, live, and return to productive lives. She had heard about Oxford Houses through an outreach program in West Haven, and contacted the president of the Oxford House-New Haven chapter, who told her about how Oxford Houses are run. He suggested to Ms. Tsombanidis that seven would be the ideal number of residents at 421 Platt Avenue, and that two refrigerators, two bathrooms, and smoke detectors would be needed. Ms. Tsombanidis assured that these recommendations were fulfilled, and she made numerous repairs and improvements to the House before the tenants moved in. A previous owner of 421 Platt Avenue had operated a day care center there, and there were already interconnected smoke detectors between two bedrooms upstairs and the upstairs hallway.
17. On July 26, 1997, Ms. Tsombanidis signed a lease with OH-JH, and the original John Does began to move in. The lease was renewed every two years thereafter, reducing the maximum number of tenants from nine to eight.
18. On or about July 27, 1997, OH-JH was chartered by OHI. It became part of the New Haven chapter of OHI. The House pays monthly dues, and one of its residents attends monthly chapter meetings of OHI.
19. Within days after the original residents moved into OH-JH, neighbor Michael Turner approached Ms. Tsombanidis and asked who the men were. Turner asked OH-JH residents what they were doing there. Turner had bothered Ms. Tsombanidis when she was working on the House after Turner learned that it would be an Oxford House. Other neighbors were upset and angry as well. The neighbors did not want OH-JH in their neighborhood because it was a house for recovering drug addicts and alcoholics. They protested to the Mayor and ...
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