Roselli v. Affleck
Citation | 373 F. Supp. 36 |
Decision Date | 25 February 1974 |
Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 5359. |
Parties | Roseanna ROSELLI et al. v. John J. AFFLECK, Individually and in his capacity as Director of the Rhode Island Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services. |
Court | U.S. District Court — District of Rhode Island |
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED
Cary J. Coen, and Jay C. Lipner, of Rhode Island Legal Services, Inc., Providence, R. I., for plaintiffs.
W. Slater Allen, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Providence, R. I., for defendant.
The named plaintiffs bring this action on their own behalf and, pursuant to Rule 23, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, on behalf of all other Rhode Island recipients of financial assistance under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program, "AFDC", who are residing in and obligated to pay for housing other than that financed and operated by Public Housing Authorities created pursuant to General Laws of Rhode Island, section 45-21-1 et seq.
On November 1, 1973 the defendant instituted a so-called "flat grant" system providing for a consolidated payment to "AFDC" recipients whereby all family units of the same numerical size receive precisely the same assistance payment. Within this consolidation there is an allotment for shelter which the plaintiffs contend is in conflict with the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and contravenes the Social Security Act of 1935, as amended 42 U.S.C. sec. 602(a) and the regulations promulgated thereunder by the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 45 C.F.R. 233.20(a)(1), 233.20(a)(3)(ii), 233.20(a)(3)(iii)(c). Specifically the plaintiffs make a four pronged attack contending that the defendant —
1) failed to compute independently those recipient units living in public housing from those living in private housing in computing the average of shelter costs;
2) at the time of averaging, in keeping with its policy in regard to assistance to "non-square"1 or pro-rated families, irrebuttably presumed that the non-recipient household member was able and did in fact contribute a pro-rated share to defray the living expenses of the "AFDC" recipients and thus included said amount in computing the standard;
3) failed to average or even survey actual rents but instead used in the computation the rents previously budgeted by the state to the recipients; and
4) failed to account for the inflationary increase in rents from the date of the averaging of shelter costs in November 1972, a date when rent increases were tightly regulated under the Economic Stabilization Act of 1970, as amended, P.L. 91-379, 84 Stat. 799 and the regulations issued thereunder by the Price Commission, 6 C.F.R. sec. 501 et seq. to the time of implementation in November 1973.
The plaintiffs argue that these failures, —which either singly or collectively, —violate the federal regulations cited supra, the Constitution and decisional law established in Rosado v. Wyman, 397 U.S. 397, 419, 90 S.Ct. 1207, 25 L.Ed.2d 442 (1970),—invidiously discriminate against the plaintiff class on a basis not rationally related to the legitimate purposes of the flat grant system; impinge on their right to dwell where they wish without a compelling governmental interest being served; and illegally diminish the content of the standard of need for shelter in that the standard, as established by the state prior to the institution of the flat grant system, was based on actual need; and that in its execution the state often did not meet actual need in violation of its own policy.
All this coalesces into the ultimate complaint that the shelter portion of the "flat grant" is illegal.
The plaintiffs have alleged a colorable constitutional claim. However, the parties have agreed to defer the consititutional issue and agree that the court proceed to hear the pendent statutory claim. The matter thus fits the pattern I followed in Rhode Island Fair Welfare Rights Organization, et al. v. John J. Affleck, CA 4818 (D.R.I. August 7, 1973).
id. at pp. 4-5.
Jurisdiction also exists under 28 U.S.C. sec. 1343(4). In Giguere et al. v. Affleck, 370 F.Supp. 154, at pp. 157-158 (D.R.I.1974) this court stated:
The matter has been certified as a class action under Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b) (2).
The "Flat Grant"
The State of Rhode Island employed the American Data Systems, Inc. to develop the flat grant. In doing so they selected at random 4265 active "AFDC" cases from the approximately 13,000-14,000 total as of November 1, 1972. They classified this selected group into plan or "family" sizes of 1 through 10 and then surveyed each to ascertain the amount the state budgeted for each need item to be included in the flat grant. Shelter needs were included as budgeted for November 1972. No survey was made to ascertain the actual cost of shelter being paid by the recipients, nor was any attempt made to determine the number of recipients paying rent different from the sum budgeted to them; nor did the survey account for actual rent or budgeted rent increases occurring between the date of the survey and November 1973, the date the flat grant was implemented.
The net of these computations concerning the cost of purchasing shelter are best set forth in the following chart.2
Approximately 90% or more of the total of all these columns which is paid to the recipient perhaps represents the rent allotment. See N. 2 & 3, supra.
Approving the concept of averaging assistance payments in order to establish a flat grant, the Court in Rosado enunciated, in accordance with 42 U.S.C. sec. 602(a)(23), the basic guidelines to be followed in the conversion procedure. 42 U.S.C. sec. 602(a)(23) provides:
"The States shall provide that by July 1, 1969, the amounts used by the State to determine the needs of individuals will have been adjusted to reflect fully changes in living costs since such amounts were established, and any maximums that the State imposes on the amount of aid paid to families will have been proportionately adjusted."
Despite the almost totally nonexistent legislative history behind this statute, the Court ascribed two distinct purposes to 42 U.S.C. sec. 602 (a) (23):
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Blue v. Craig
...1973), 492 F.2d 986; Gilliard v. Craig (D.C.N.C.1971), 331 F.Supp. 587, aff'd 409 U.S. 807, 93 S.Ct. 39, 34 L.Ed.2d 66; Roselli v. Affleck (D.C.R.I.1974), 373 F.Supp. 36; Bass v. Rockefeller (D.C.N.Y.1971), 331 F.Supp. 945, vacated on other grounds (2 Cir.), 464 F.2d 1300; Ojeda v. Hackney ......
-
Metcalf v. Trainor
...for reasons inconsistent with the Illinois Public Aid Code standard of "health and well-being." 22 The decision in Roselli v. Affleck, 373 F.Supp. 36, 48 (D.R.I.), aff'd, 508 F.2d 1277 (1st Cir. 1974), is distinguishable. The court's decision to require a survey of actual rent paid was base......
-
Andrews v. Maher
...therefore is heard and determined by a district court of three judges . . . .13 Cover, supra note 11, at 25.14 Accord, Roselli v. Affleck, 373 F.Supp. 36 (D.R.I.) (alternate ground of jurisdiction), aff'd without discussion of jurisdiction, 508 F.2d 1277 (1st Cir. 1974); Bass v. Rockefeller......
-
Roselli v. Noel
...Roselli has also joined the Governor of the State as a defendant. In the first suit, which hereinafter will be referred to collectively as Roselli I, this Court issued a preliminary injunction barring implementation of the shelter portion of the State's flat grant program as a violation of ......