Retirement Community Discriminated Against Disabled Applicants

A Chicago retirement community has signed a Consent Order with the U.S. Justice Department conceding that it violated the Fair Housing Amendments Act by inquiring into the medical condition of disabled individuals seeking admission. United States v. Resurrection Retirement Community, Consent Order (N. Dist. Ill. 2002). It is believed to be the first agreement involving such practices at a major retirement community.

After receiving a complaint in 2001, the Department's Civil Rights Division sent testers to Resurrection Retirement Community, Inc., a 500-unit retirement community on the northwest side of Chicago, to investigate whether the community discriminated against applicants or residents who used wheelchairs. In a complaint filed at the same time as the consent order, the Department alleged that Resurrection discouraged wheelchair-bound applicants from renting apartment units and unnecessarily steered them to assisted-living facilities. The complaint also alleged that Resurrection illegally inquired about the severity of the applicants'' disabilities and required certain individuals to submit to a medical assessment as condition of tenancy.

Under the terms of the consent decree, Resurrection has agreed to pay a total of $220,000 in damages and penalties.

"This settlement will help ensure that persons are not denied the chance to live in a retirement community because they have a disability," said Ralph F. Boyd, Jr., Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. "Older persons with disabilities should not be forced into costly assisted living facilities because of a housing provider''s misconception that they cannot live independently."

The consent order states that Resurrection provides some assisted living services. 'This case raises difficult issues regarding the intersection of fair housing law and long-term care,' writes the National Senior Citizens Law Center in its account of the settlement. 'Needless to say, further cases will be needed to explore the application of the Fair Housing Amendments Act in a long-term care setting that combines housing and services.'

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For the consent order, go to: https://www.usdoj.gov/crt/housing/documents/resurrectsettle.htm

For the complaint, go to: https://www.usdoj.gov/crt/housing/documents/resurrectcomp.htm

For a Department of Justice press release on the proposed consent order, go to: https://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2002/October/02_civ_601.htm