On November 5, 2024, Chief Decide Pratt of the US District Court docket for the Southern District of Indiana granted the ACLU of Indiana’s request for a preliminary injunction towards the Indiana Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) on behalf of Subsequent Step Restoration Houses (Subsequent Step). In a swimsuit filed earlier this yr, the ACLU of Indiana argued that DHS was discriminating towards Subsequent Step on the idea of the incapacity of their residents.
Subsequent Step is a non-profit therapeutic restoration housing supplier in Dubois County. In collaboration with Behind the Wire, a faith-based non-profit that gives evidence-based restoration providers in Indiana, Subsequent Step operates a gaggle dwelling for males recovering from substance abuse and habit issues. In 2023, DHS decided that the house—a typical single-family residence—was required to satisfy the heightened, and costlier, requirements that apply to “Class 1” constructions. The house can be categorised as a Class 2 construction if a “typical” household lived there, and the Class 1 designation is being utilized solely as a result of the house homes people with disabilities.
Discovering that Plaintiffs are doubtless to reach the lawsuit, Chief Decide Tanya Walton Pratt’s preliminary injunction requires DHS to deal with Subsequent Step’s dwelling as a Class 2 construction.
This final result mirrors an ACLU of Indiana victory in 2019 on behalf of New Horizons Rehabilitation, who present providers to Hoosiers with disabilities. The ACLU of Indiana is presently representing 4 different group dwelling suppliers in equivalent lawsuits towards DHS.
Assertion from ACLU of Indiana Authorized Director, Ken Falk
“Federal regulation ensures that individuals with disabilities will not be discriminated towards. And but the State of Indiana is imposing heightened burdens on the Subsequent Step Restoration Dwelling and its shoppers solely as a result of they’re individuals with disabilities,” mentioned Ken Falk, Authorized Director of the ACLU of Indiana. “That is illegal.”
