DOJ Settles Suit Alleging Zoning Discrimination By Nashville Against Faith-Based Substance Abuse Program

On January 29, the Department of Justice reached a consent decree in its civil rights suit alleging that the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee unlawfully denied zoning approval to a Christian substance abuse program. The suit alleged that the Metropolitan Government discriminated against Teen Challenge and its clients based on disability in violation of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and imposed a substantial burden on their religious exercise in violation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), when it barred the group from building a residential treatment facility.

Teen Challenge International is a Christian nonprofit organization based in Nashville that provides faith-based substance abuse programs for young people. In 2006, Teen Challenge purchased property to build a residential treatment facility in a neighborhood of Davidson County where rehabilitative services were permitted in the zoning code as of right. According to the United States’ suit, there was community opposition to the location of Teen Challenge in the neighborhood, and the Metropolitan Government first delayed granting Teen Challenge a building permit, then amended its zoning code in order to keep Teen Challenge out. The United States filed suit in September 2008, alleging disability discrimination in violation of the FHA and violation of RLUIPA’s bar on government action that imposes a substantial burden on religious exercise without a compelling government interest.

Under the terms of the settlement, which was approved by the court on January 30, the Metropolitan Government agreed to rescind the zoning amendment that had barred Teen Challenge and adopted a reasonable accommodation policy for persons with disabilities. The settlement also requires designation of an FHA and RLUIPA compliance officer, training for employees on the requirements of these two civil rights statutes, and monetary payments to Teen Challenge and the United States.

 

This summary appears in the U.S. DOJ’s Jan/Feb. issue of Religious Freedom in Focus.  The newsletter can be accessed at:

http://www.firstfreedom.gov/newsletter/focus_37.htm#2