Access Living of Metro. Chi., Inc. v. City of Chi.

• Decision Date: 29 March 2019
• Docket Number: Case No. 18-cv-3399
• Citation: 372 F.Supp.3d 663
• Parties: ACCESS LIVING OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO, INC., Plaintiff, v. CITY OF CHICAGO, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

372 F.Supp.3d 663

ACCESS LIVING OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO, INC., Plaintiff,

v.CITY OF CHICAGO, Defendant.

Case No. 18-cv-3399

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division.

Signed March 29, 2019

Jennifer Irene Klar, Pro Hac Vice, Michael Allen, Pro Hac Vice, Laura J. Gaztambide-Arandes, Pro Hac Vice, Orly Tamar May, Pro Hac Vice, Relman, Dane & Colfax PLLC, Washington, DC, Kenneth M. Walden, Mary Elizabeth Rosenberg, Access Living, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff.

Margaret R. Sobota, Christie Starzec, Tara D. Kennedy, City of Chicago, Department of Law, Chicago, IL, for Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Robert M. Dow, Jr., United States District Judge

Plaintiff Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago, Inc. ("Plaintiff" or "Access Living"), brings this action against Defendant the City of Chicago ("Defendant" or "City"), for alleged violations of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Fair Housing Act ("FHA") (collectively, the "Federal Accessibility Laws"). Currently before the Court is Defendant's motion to dismiss Plaintiff's complaint for lack of standing and failure to state a claim [24]. For the reasons explained below, Defendant's motion [24] is denied.

I. Background¹

The complaint alleges that over the last thirty years, the City has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars to non-profit and private developers to build or rehabilitate more than 50,000 affordable rental units in more than 650 developments across the City. [1] at 1, ¶ 1 & 14-15, ¶ 53. The complaint refers to this as the City's "Affordable Rental Housing Program" or the "Program." According to the complaint, the City—as a public entity, recipient of federal funds, and active participant in the development of affordable housing—has a duty under the Federal Accessibility Laws to ensure that owners of developments in the Program comply with federal accessibility requirements. [1] at 16, ¶ 60 & 19-20, ¶ 71. The City also must ensure that the Program as a whole is accessible to people with disabilities and does not discriminate against people with disabilities in its terms, conditions, or privileges, or in the provision of services or facilities. Id. at 16-17, ¶¶ 61-62.

The complaint alleges that although the City offers low-income residents more than 50,000 affordable units in the Program, it has failed to ensure that sufficient units are available to people with disabilities, resulting in Chicagoans with disabilities being forced to live on the street, in their cars or homeless shelters, in nursing homes, or in other inadequate and dangerous housing. [1] at 29, ¶¶ 110-112. The complaint details Plaintiff's extensive investigation into the Program's compliance with the Federal Accessibility Laws, including its randomized testing of approximately 300 developments in the Program. According to the complaint, Plaintiff determined that none of the properties it tested fully complied with the relevant federal standards. Id. at 22-27, ¶¶ 82-99. For example, the complaint alleges, many of the properties had stairs at the main entrances, lacked doorways wide enough to allow wheelchair passage, and/or had inaccessible bathrooms and kitchens.

The complaint alleges that the City's actions and omissions caused these accessibility problems. In particular, the complaint alleges that the City has no policies or procedures to ensure affordable housing units are accessible; does not ensure that accessible, affordable units that might be constructed are made available to and occupied by people who need their accessible features; and is unable to identify whether buildings in the Program have accessible units or where such units are located. See [1] at 27-29, ¶¶ 100-112.

According to the complaint, the City has the authority, but nonetheless largely fails, to require developments in the Program to comply with Federal Accessibility Laws. In particular, the City's contracts, loan and regulatory agreements, and covenants with developers and owners give the City authority to demand compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local requirements, and to enter, inspect, and declare a default for an owner's failure to comply. [1] at 13, ¶¶ 44-45.

The complaint alleges that the City's failure to enforce accessibility obligations has injured Plaintiff, which is an organization that promotes independent living for and offers a broad array of programs and services to Chicagoans with disabilities. Most of these individuals cannot afford to pay rent without some public assistance due to the many barriers to employment they face. The complaint alleges that the City's failure to make the Program accessible to people with disabilities undermines the effectiveness of Plaintiff's services and makes it more difficult and expensive for Plaintiff to attempt to connect clients to accessible, affordable housing. The complaint further alleges that the City's conduct has required Plaintiff to "divert its scarce resources away from its educational and other programs focused on expanding independent living options for its constituents and toward efforts focused on securing compliance with federal accessibility requirements in the City's Affordable Rental Housing Program." [1] at 33, ¶ 133. For instance, the complaint alleges, the City's actions have "forced Access Living to divert scarce resources to identify, investigate, and counteract the City's discriminatory practices" by conducting "site visits, investigations, surveys, and tests at properties throughout the Affordable Rental Housing Program in order to assess the extent of the City's discrimination, which resulted in the diversion of its resources in terms of staff time, travel, and incidental expenses that Access Living would not have had to expend were it not for the City's violations." Id. at 35, ¶ 137.

Plaintiff alleges that it filed this lawsuit to address the ongoing diversion of resources and frustration of mission caused by the City's conduct. According to the complaint, the City violated and continues to violate Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Fair Housing Act by failing to ensure (1) that individual buildings and units within the City's Affordable Housing Program are built in accordance with architectural standards set by federal law and (2) that individuals with disabilities receive the benefits of its Affordable Housing Program as a whole. The complaint seeks a declaration that the City actions violate Title II of the ADA, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the FHA. It also seeks injunctive relief. In particular, the complaint requests that the City be enjoined from providing funds or assistance for housing units that fail to comply with the Federal Accessibility Laws, from failing to bring buildings and housing units in the Program into compliance with the Federal Accessibility Laws, and from failing to provide meaningful access to the Program for people with mobility, visual, and hearing disabilities. The complaint also requests injunctive relief requiring the City to survey all units in the Program and assess their compliance with the Federal Accessibility laws; to bring noncompliant units into compliance; to adopt policies and procedures to ensure that newly built or renovated housing complies with the Federal Accessibility Laws; and to adopt policies and procedures to ensure that owners of buildings in the Program comply with the Federal Accessibility Laws.

II. Legal Standard

The City has filed a motion to dismiss the complaint based on Rules 12(b)(1) and 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The City's Rule 12(b)(1) motion challenges Plaintiff's standing to bring this lawsuit. Rule 12(b)(1)"provides for dismissal of a claim based on lack of subject matter jurisdiction, including lack of standing." Stubenfield v. Chicago Housing Authority , 6 F.Supp.3d 779, 782 (N.D. Ill. 2013) (citing Retired Chicago Police Ass'n v. City of Chicago , 76 F.3d 856 (7th Cir. 1996) ). Typically, "[i]n ruling on a motion to dismiss for want of standing, the district court must accept as true all material allegations of the complaint, drawing all reasonable inferences therefrom in the plaintiff's favor." Lee v. City of Chicago , 330 F.3d 456, 468 (7th Cir. 2003) (citing Retired Chicago Police Ass'n, 76 F.3d at 862 ); see also Moore v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. , 908 F.3d 1050, 1057 (7th Cir. 2018) ; Browner v. American Eagle Bank , 355 F.Supp.3d 731, 732–33 (N.D. Ill. 2019). However, when "standing is challenged as a factual matter, the plaintiff must come forward with ‘competent proof’—that is a showing by a preponderance of the evidence—that standing exists." Lee , 330 F.3d at 468 ; see also Apex Digital, Inc. v. Sears, Roebuck & Co. , 572 F.3d 440, 445 (7th Cir. 2009) (once evidence calling the plaintiff's standing into question is proffered, the presumption of correctness accorded to a complaint's allegations falls away, and the plaintiff bears the burden of coming forward with competent proof that standing exists).

The City's 12(b)(6) motion challenges the sufficiency of Plaintiff's complaint. For purposes of a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), the Court " ‘accept[s] as true all of the well-pleaded facts in the complaint and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff.’ " Calderon-Ramirez , 877 F.3d at 275 (quoting Kubiak v. City of Chicago , 810 F.3d 476, 480-81 (7th Cir. 2016) ). To survive a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), a plaintiff's complaint must allege facts which, when taken as true, " ‘plausibly suggest that the plaintiff has a right to relief, raising that possibility above a speculative level.’ " Cochran v. Illinois State Toll Highway Auth. , 828 F.3d 597, 599 (7th Cir. 2016) (quoting EEOC v. Concentra Health Servs. , 496 F.3d 773, 776 (7th Cir. 2007) ).

The Court reads the complaint and assesses its plausibility as a whole. See Atkins v....