Santa Rosa Settles Fair Housing Lawsuit

Halfway house, council reach agreement
By MIKE MCCOYTHE PRESS DEMOCRAT 3/14/07
Saying the city could ill afford to lose a costly lawsuit, the Santa Rosa City Council agreed Tuesday to pay $66,500 in damages and legal fees and to allow more people to live in a clean-and-sober halfway house.
"This is something we are being forced to do," Councilman Mike Martini said of the decision to allow The Living Place to house 12 people at its facility on Franklin Avenue.The group home opened in 2003. Within a few months, its operator, Jonathon Fong, became embroiled in a dispute with the city over whether he needed a use permit to operate the facility. While the city won that round, Fong sought to house 13 people in the home.
Two years ago, both the Planning Commission and council granted the facility permission to house up to 10 people, a combination of clients and staff. Fong filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, alleging that the limit violated the federal Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act as it applied to recovering alcoholics and drug addicts.
City Attorney Brien Farrell said Tuesday that rather than spending an estimated $300,000 on a lawsuit it could lose, the city reached an out-of-court settlement to allow Fong to boost his occupancy to 12 people. The settlement, unanimously approved by the council Tuesday, requires the city to pay Fong and his attorneys $32,500 in damages and $34,000 in legal fees. It also restricts the number of cars owned by residents of the house to nine, requires the addition of two parking spaces on-site and requires the operators to provide a hot-line phone number for neighbors to use if problems arise.
City planner Noah Housh said neighbors who attended a recent meeting said their primary issue is the "overall number" who will be living in the seven-bedroom home, near the corner of Lewis Road." Otherwise, they said the people there have been operating in a pretty respectful way," Housh said.
No neighbor showed up to speak against the settlement. David Grabill, a local attorney, said the settlement will provide additional space for those seeking recovery from alcohol and drug addictions. He urged the council to approve the settlement, which he said would allow the clientele "to be treated, not criminalized."