Another Setback For Hinsdale In Fight With Sober Living Home

HINSDALE, IL — Hinsdale's effort to close a sober living house hit another setback last week when a DuPage County judge eliminated the limit on the number of people who can stay there.

Last year, Hinsdale asked DuPage County Court to order Trinity to cease all commercial use of the property because it did not conform with the neighborhood's single-family zoning. Since then, Trinity's executive director, Michael Owens, has sued the village in federal court alleging discrimination. And the U.S. Justice Department has launched an investigation into Hinsdale's fair housing practices.

In an order last week, DuPage County Judge Brian Diamond referred all issues to federal court and ended the limit of occupants in the house. On Monday, the village asked the county court to dismiss the lawsuit against Trinity, saying it would pursue the matter in the federal case.

In February, Diamond barred Trinity from bringing any more tenants into its house while litigation continued with the village — a development that Hinsdale announced in a rare news release. A month later, the judge allowed up to nine people in the house.

With the latest setbacks, the village has stayed publicly silent about the issue, no longer issuing news releases. Hinsdale Patch called Assistant Village Manager Bradley Bloom on Monday, but he referred questions to Village President Tom Cauley, saying he would leave a message. Cauley did not return the message.

In a September interview, Village President Tom Cauley told the Hinsdalean that the village's effort involved no fair housing violations. Trinity is in a zone where no more than three unrelated people can live in a house. Cauley told the Hinsdalean that "if we had 10 nuns living there, we would have a problem under the zoning code."

In a previous statement, Owens said Trinity serves adult men with addictions who work in a variety of jobs and are from towns such as Hinsdale, La Grange, Western Springs and Clarendon Hills.

"It is crucial to their continued recovery that they live in a group setting with others battling the same disability," said Owens, a recovering alcoholic. "Therefore, it is a shame that a village, especially Hinsdale, continues to fight us and refuses to compromise when the need for a quality sober living environment is crucial to the success of the long-term recovery of these men in a group setting."

Owens' federal lawsuit alleges the village's actions were in violation of the Fair Housing and Americans With Disabilities acts. The laws bar discrimination against disabled people, and that includes those with drug and alcohol addictions, the lawsuit says.

Since Trinity opened its doors, its residents have had no issues with neighbors, police or anyone else in the village, according to the Trinity.

According to the organization's website, a double bedroom costs $475 a week and a single goes for $625 a week.