Feds Sue Pennsylvania Over Sprinkler Mandate for Community Homes

The United States has filed suit against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and two of its agencies alleging that the commonwealth’s sprinkler mandate for so-called “community homes” unlawfully discriminates against people with intellectual disabilities and autism. The lawsuit filed yesterday in US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania claims that the commonwealth’s enforcement of the Uniform Construction Code violates Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act.

The primary issue in the complaint is that the requirement of automatic sprinklers for all community homes is discriminatory. Quoting from the complaint:

• The United States brings this action against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and its agencies, the Pennsylvania Departments of Labor and Industry and Human Services under the Fair Housing Act, Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, 42 U.S.C. §§ 3601-3619.
• As explained below, the Commonwealth’s statewide building code discriminates based on disability because it requires every “community home” for persons with intellectual disabilities or autism to install automatic sprinkler systems.
• Automatic sprinklers are not required for homes occupied by similarly sized households of persons without disabilities.
• This requirement effectively prohibits individuals with intellectual disabilities or autism who require “care” to live in the community from living in broad categories of housing, including older multifamily housing.
• “Community homes” are the Commonwealth’s primary community residential program for persons with intellectual disabilities and autism who would otherwise be institutionalized.
• Community homes provide in-home staffing and supports that enable persons with intellectual disabilities or autism to live in the community as independently as possible and avoid institutionalization.
• Community homes are regulated and closely monitored by the Commonwealth and must comply with numerous safety requirements, including fire safety requirements.
• Under the FHA, building code requirements that apply only to persons with disabilities, and which do not apply to the general population, may be justified only if they are warranted by the unique and specific needs and abilities of residents with disabilities in the housing at issue.
• However, the Uniform Construction Code, Pennsylvania’s statewide building code, requires every community home to install an automatic sprinkler system, regardless of the home’s age, the number of residents, or the residents’ individual abilities, including their ability to evacuate the home in case of fire.
• Other single-family homes, including newly constructed homes, are not required to install automatic sprinklers if they are not occupied by individuals with disabilities who require “care” to live in the community.
• Nor are in-home day care centers with up to twelve children or older “commercial” congregate living facilities, such as nursing homes, required to install automatic sprinklers.
• Defendants’ actions described above constitute:
  • discrimination in the sale or rental, or otherwise making unavailable or denying, a dwelling because of disability, in violation of the FHA, 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(1); and discrimination in the terms, conditions, or privileges of sale or rental of a dwelling, or in the provision of services or facilities in connection with a dwelling because of disability, in violation of the FHA, 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(2); and
  • a refusal to allow for the provision of reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services when such accommodations may be necessary to afford a person an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, in violation of the FHA, 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B).
• The actions described above constitute a pattern or practice of resistance to the full enjoyment of rights granted by the FHA, or a denial of rights protected by the FHA to a group of persons, which denial raises an issue of general public importance, in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 3614(a).

The suit seeks an injunction blocking the state from enforcing the UCC’s sprinkler mandate for  community homes.

A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania quoted Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.  As saying:

• People with disabilities should not have their housing opportunities stripped away from them by restrictive safety measures that are simply not necessary.
• The failure of the Commonwealth’s building code to take into account the specific needs and the capacity of people with disabilities illegally denies them access to housing opportunities.
• Through vigorous enforcement of the Fair Housing Act, the Justice Department is committed to ensuring that building requirements, zoning restrictions and land use codes are not abused and manipulated to deny people with disabilities their right to live integrated in their communities.

U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam for the Middle District of Pennsylvania was quoted as saying:

• Although expensive fire prevention methods, like automatic sprinklers, may reduce personal injury and damage to property, Pennsylvania cannot require individuals with disabilities to obey this code requirement without assessing their unique and specific needs.
• Pennsylvania’s building code enforcement improperly demands individuals with disabilities living in community homes to pay thousands of dollars to install automatic sprinklers yet allows those without disabilities in similar resident housing to avoid such costs.
• This office will continue to enforce the Fair Housing Act and partner with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to ensure our disabled citizens share the same rights as their neighbors.

Here is a copy of the complaint: