Baltimore Settles Federal Lawsuit for $50M in New Disabled-Friendly Housing

BALTIMORE-Two lawsuits against the Housing Authority of Baltimore City have come to an end, with the agency agreeing to spend $50 million between now and 2010 to develop new housing units designed to be accessible to the disabled. With the single settlement agreement, both lawsuits have gone away. The settlement represents the first time the Justice Department won a housing discrimination lawsuit under the Rehabilitation Act, instead of the Fair Housing Act.

The Maryland Disability Law Center filed its class-action suit on behalf of several plaintiffs in 2002, charging that, under the Fair Housing Act, the housing authority had treated the complainants unjustly by not making public housing properties accessible to the physically challenged. The US Department of Justice later filed another suit against the city agency under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, claiming that the housing authority had denied the disabled population housing by not providing a sufficient amount of accessible residences.