Boynton Beach violating law with ban on group homes

The city of Boynton Beach is calling for a total and complete shutdown of new group homes for persons with disabilities entering the city until June 1, 2017 — until its staff can figure out what is going on.

The City Commission voted to have a moratorium on group homes so it could study guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in November that was designed to help state and local governments better understand how to comply with the Fair Housing Act when making zoning and land use decisions. The guidance is a restatement of existing law in an easy-toread format to ensure that persons with disabilities are permitted to be integrated into neighborhoods, and not to be subject to discriminatory barriers.

In response to this document, the city did the exact opposite as required by the guidance — it built a regulatory wall to bar persons with disabilities from moving into the city. This ban includes all group homes for persons with disabilities, such as group homes for adults with autism, intellectual or developmental disabilities, children who are medically complex and need 24-hour medical care or supervision, and persons overcoming drug or alcohol abuse.

The city may not block a group home in response to residents’ stereotypical fears or prejudices. For example, as a result of this moratorium, a person with a developmental or intellectual disability who would like to move out of his or her parents’ home in Boynton Beach may be required to move out of the city because of the lack of adequate housing options. If municipalities were permitted to enact similar moratoriums, persons with disabilities would be relegated to institutional placements or go only to certain “disability friendly” areas.

The city’s action blatantly violates the Florida and Federal Fair Housing Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, and should be contrary to the moral values that we hold dear as Americans.

A “moratorium” on group homes for persons with disabilities, whether temporary or permanent, is unlawful because it deprives them of the right to full participation in the community — which is denied no other person or class of persons if they wish to move to the city of Boynton Beach.