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sale of illegal drugs or persons with or without disabilities who present a direct threat to the <br /> persons or property of others. <br /> HUD and the Department of justice encourage parties to group home disputes to explore all <br /> reasonable dispute resolution pruccdwcs, like mediation, w alternafives to litigation. <br /> DATE: AUGUST 18,1999 <br /> Questions and Answers <br /> on the Fair Housing Act and Zoning <br /> Q, lloes the Fair Housing Acl pr~~-CLgrt local zoning laws? <br /> to "Pre-emption" is a legal term meaning that one level of government hes taken over a field <br /> d left no room for government at any other level to pass laws or exercise autrioriry in that area. <br /> The Fair Housing Act is not a land use or zoning statute; it does not pre-entpt local land use and <br /> zoning laws. This is an area where state law typically gives local govcnmmnts primary power. <br /> However, if that power is exercised in a specific instance in a way that is inconsistent with a <br /> federal law such as the Fair Huusurg Act, the federal law will control. Lon~„before thn 19RR <br /> amendments, the courts had held that the Fair Housing Act prohibited local govermnents from <br /> cxercisin¢ their land use and 2oning powers in a scriminetory way. <br /> Q. What is a group home within the roeaning of the Fair Housing AcP•' <br /> <br /> Use o <br /> <br /> Group The form "group home" does not have a specific legal meaning. In this statement, the term <br /> <br /> Care ou home" refers to housin orcn ied b u elated individuals with disabilities ~ <br /> Facility ometimes, but not always, housing is provided by organizations that also offer various services <br /> Hot for individuals with disabilities living in the group homes. Sometimes it is this group home <br /> Group operator, rather than the individuals who live in the home, that interacts with local guvcrmucut in <br /> Home seeking permits and malting requests for reasonable accommodations on behalf of those <br /> individuals. <br /> The term "group home" is also sometimes ayplied to any group of muelated ersons who live <br /> ~togethertr> a dwellin¢ such as a fttoun of students who voluntarily agree to s are the rent on a <br /> house. The Act does not generally affect the ability of local governments to regulate housmg o <br /> this kind, as long as they do not discriminate against the residents vu the basis of racq color, <br /> national origin, religion, sex, handicap (disability) or familial status (families with minor <br /> children). <br /> Q. Who <br /> are persons with disabilities within the meaniat; of the Fair Rousing Act? <br /> The Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of handicap. "l~Tandicap" has the <br /> ~amc legal meaning as the term"disability" which is used in other federal civil rights laws. <br /> Persons with disabilities (haadicapsl are individuals with mental or physical impainnrnts which <br /> stag substantially limit one or more major life activities, The term mental or p}rysical impairment may <br /> Goy include conditions such as blindness, hearing impairment, mobility impatrment, HIV infection, <br /> mental retardation, alcoholism, drug addiction, chronic fatigue, learning disability, head injury, <br /> and mental illness. The term major life activity may include seerng, hearing, walking, breathing, <br /> 2 <br /> E0 3'~tid DD71 L69~9ZE OZ:Li L00L/St/T0 <br /> <br />