Jones v. City of Faribault

• Decision Date: 18 February 2021
• Docket Number: No. 18-1643 (JRT/HB),18-1643 (JRT/HB)
• Parties: THELMA JONES, PRIYIA LACEY, FAISA ABDI, ALI ALI, RUKIYA HUSSEIN, DAVID TROTTER-FORD, LUCIA PORRAS, SOMALI COMMUNITY RESETTLEMENT SERVICES, INC., Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF FARIBAULT, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Minnesota

THELMA JONES, PRIYIA LACEY, FAISA ABDI, ALI ALI, RUKIYA HUSSEIN, DAVID TROTTER-FORD,LUCIA PORRAS, SOMALI COMMUNITY RESETTLEMENT SERVICES, INC., Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF FARIBAULT, Defendant.

No. 18-1643 (JRT/HB)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA

February 18, 2021

SEALED MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND DENYING PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Alejandro Ortiz and Jennesa Calvo-Friedman, AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION, 125 Broad Street, Eighteenth Floor, New York, NY 10004; O. Joseph Balthazor, Jr. and Scott M. Flaherty, TAFT STETTINIUS & HOLLISTER LLP, 2200 IDS Center, 80 South Eighth Street, Minneapolis, MN 55402; Ian Bratlie and Teresa Nelson, ACLU OF MINNESOTA, P.O. Box 14720, Minneapolis, MN 55414, for plaintiffs.

Andrew A. Wolf, Jason J. Kuboushek, Paul D. Reuvers, and Stephanie A. Angolkar, IVERSON REUVERS CONDON, 9321 Ensign Avenue South, Bloomington, MN 55438, for defendant.

Plaintiffs, a group of current and former renters, initiated this case against the City of Faribault ("the City"), claiming that the City's Rental Licensing Ordinance (the "Ordinance") violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, 42 U.S.C. § 1981, the Fair Housing Act (the "FHA"), and the Equal Protection Clause of the Minnesota Constitution. Plaintiffs allege that the City was motivated by race-based and national origin-based animus in passing the Ordinance, and that the Ordinance makes it more difficult for Black and Hispanic residents to obtain rental housing in the City. After extensive discovery, the parties have both filed Motions for Summary Judgment. The City also asserts that Plaintiffs lack standing to assert their claims.

The Court finds that each Plaintiff has sufficiently established standing with respect to all claims presented. As to the intentional discrimination claims under the Fourteenth Amendment, Section 1981, the FHA, and the Minnesota Equal Protection Clause, the Court finds that the record supports a reasonable inference that racial animus was either a motivating factor or the but-for cause in the City's decision to implement the Ordinance, so the Court will deny the City's Motion as to those claims. However, the Court will likewise deny Plaintiffs' Motion, as there also remains a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether the City's policy objectives were legitimate or merely pretext to discriminate against Black and Hispanic residents.

Furthermore, there remains a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether Plaintiffs have shown a discriminatory effect caused by the Ordinance, as the parties offer conflicting statistical evidence and expert testimony, and weighing such evidence is the task of the factfinder. Accordingly, the Court will deny the cross-Motions as to the FHA disparate impact claims based on the Ordinance's criminal screening policy and occupancy restriction, and the Minnesota Equal Protection Clause claim based on classifications between renters with and without criminal records, and with and without large families. However, because Plaintiffs have failed to establish that renters and homeowners are similarly situated, the Court will grant the City's Motion as to Plaintiffs' claim pursuant to the Minnesota Equal Protection Clause based on animus against renters.

BACKGROUND

The Rental Licensing Ordinance and corresponding Crime-Free Housing Program were passed by the Faribault City Council in 2014. The parties present starkly different narratives about the events and views leading to the Ordinance's passage, as well as its effects after implementation. However, except where noted, the following facts are undisputed.¹

I. DEMOGRAPHIC AND PUBLIC SAFETY CONTEXT

The City of Faribault, located in Rice County, Minnesota, has experienced significant demographic changes over the past decades. In 1990, Faribault had 58 Black and 253 Latino residents, in 2000 there were 538 Black residents and 1,952 Latino residents, and by 2010 the minority population had grown to 1,743 Black residents and 3,026 Latino residents. (1^st Decl. of Alejandro Ortiz ("1^st Ortiz Decl.") ¶ 6, Ex. E ("Parnell Report") at 7, Sept. 3, 2020, Docket No. 216-5.) The majority of Black residents identify as Somali, (Parnell Report at 7), and the City perceived that the Somali population grew especially quickly starting in 2009. (1^st Ortiz Decl. ¶ 3, Ex. B ("Viscomi Dep.") at 292:7-19, Sept. 3, 2020, Docket No. 216-2.)

In Faribault, between 2012 and 2017, an average of 91.2% of Black households rented, compared to 30.6% of white households. (Parnell Report at 8-9.) Many Somali residents live in lower-rent apartments in the downtown area of Faribault. (See 1^st Ortiz Decl. ¶ 8, Ex. G ("2011 Downtown Market Analysis") at 24, 26-27, Sept. 3, 2020, Docket No. 216-7.) According to interviews conducted by the Rice County Housing & Redevelopment Authority in 2018, numerous Somali families reported households of ten to twelve members. (Parnell Report at 9.) By one count, as of May 2019, approximately 87.5% of rental units in Faribault with six or more residents included at least one Somali member of the household. (1^st Ortiz Decl. ¶ 12, Ex. K at 3-4, Sept. 3, 2020, Docket No. 216-11.) Faribault has a dearth of rental housing for large families, (1^st Ortiz Decl. ¶ 15, Ex. M at 121, Sept. 3, 2020, Docket No. 216-13; Decl. of Paul Reuvers ("Reuvers Decl.") ¶ 19, Ex. 17 ("Bohlen Dep.") at 53:3-15, Sept. 2, 2020, Docket No. 167-9), and City officials, including current Mayor Voracek, were aware of a housing shortage for large Somali families, (See 1^st Ortiz Decl. ¶ 2, Ex. A ("Voracek Dep.") at 56:4-17, Sept. 3, 2020, Docket No. 216-1.) Yet, in 2014, when Faribault introduced its Community Vision 2040, it included the priority of "A Vibrant Downtown," which included "establish[ing] market rate and high-end residential [units] in the downtown." (1^st Ortiz Decl. ¶ 11, Ex. J at 23, Sept. 3, 2020, Docket No. 216-10.)

As Faribault's demographics changed, and Somali residents moved into apartments downtown and spent time conversing on sidewalks near their homes, (see 1^st Ortiz Decl. ¶ 9, Ex. H ("1^st Jasinki Dep.") at 46:11-25, Sept. 3, 2020, Docket No. 216-8; Viscomi Dep. at 268:4-23), some residents expressed concerns about a perceived rise in crime in the downtown area. (See, e.g., 2011 Downtown Market Analysis at 7.) Additionally, a number of Faribault residents were particularly concerned about "loitering" downtown by minority residents, which they perceived as threatening and made them uncomfortable, and about which they complained to City officials. (Id. at 29.) One resident even wrote an editorial in the Faribault Daily News titled "Intimidated by Faribault Somalis" in which she described feeling intimidated by three young Somali men walking down the sidewalk, and expressing that "[i]t is very intimidating, to me, to observe these people loitering everywhere" and that she "live[s] in fear of them." (1^st Ortiz Decl. ¶ 28, Ex. Z at 2-3, Sept. 3, 2020, Docket No. 217-5.)

Indeed, former Mayor Jasinski testified that the "number one complaint" he heard was about the Somali population. (1^st Jasinki Dep. at 51:17-22.) Other City officials likewise noted loitering issues, including City Councilmember Viscomi, who testified that she believed loitering was harming businesses downtown, (Viscomi Dep. at 185:17-186:25), and City Planning Coordinator Waldock, who testified that business owners complained that Somalis gathered near stores, which frightened customers who were not accustomed to seeing Black people, (Reuvers Decl. ¶ 41, Ex. 39 ("Waldock Dep.") at 124:22-125:12, Sept. 2, 2020, Docket No. 167-31.) The executive director of Somali Community Resettlement Services, Inc. ("SCRS"), Abdullah Sharif Hared, testified that City officials made racist remarks about Somalis and suggested they move elsewhere. (Reuvers Decl. ¶ 18, Ex. 16 ("Hared Dep.") at 11:21-21:24, Sept. 2, 2020, Docket No. 167-8.) Residents also expressed concerns related to the Somali community when the local mosque applied for a parking lot in 2015, including that the mosque "would be a breeding ground for terrorists." (Reuvers Decl. ¶ 36, Ex. 34 ("Rowan Dep.") at 34:19-36:20, Sept. 3, 2020, Docket No. 167-26.)

However, between 2000 and 2014, the overall number of property crimes in Faribault actually fell, even as the population grew. (Answer ¶ 34, Docket No. 119, Jan 2, 2020.) Additionally, burglaries dropped consistently between 2010 and 2014. (1^st Ortiz Decl. ¶ 21, Ex. S at 3, Sept. 3, 2020, Docket No. 216-19. ) Around the same time, the Faribault Police Department ("FPD") indicated that there was "little crime in the downtown, and certainly no more than the community at large." (2011 Downtown Market Analysis at 26.) On the other hand, statistics also show that Faribault had one of the top five crime rates among Minnesota cities with 15,000 to 30,000 people in 2014. (Reuvers Decl. ¶ 70, Ex. 68 ("Oct. 2019 Staff Memo") at 34, Sept. 2, 2020, Docket No. 167-41.)

In the fall of 2013, there were discussions within the FPD about implementing a revised loitering ordinance to address, among other things, "cultural clashes" in the downtown area. (1^st Ortiz Decl. ¶ 23, Ex. U ("2013 Bohlen Memo") at 3, Sept. 3, 2020, Docket No. 217.) Former Mayor Jasinski also testified that City Council considered a loitering ordinance to address, in part, the groups of Somali men congregating downtown. (1^st Jasinski Dep. at 68:4-68:19.) But Chief Bohlen reported a loitering ordinance might be "problematic and unenforceable" after meeting with the City Attorney, and the City did not move forward with a loitering or nuisance ordinance. (2013 Bohlen Memo at 4.)

II. CITY INTEREST IN RENTAL LICENSING AND CRIME-FREE HOUSING PROGRAM

The City first became interested in implementing a new Crime Free Rental Multi-Housing ("CFMH") Program around 2007 or 2008, but did not move forward because...