Hinsdale Spends $1.5M To Fight Fair Housing Suits

HINSDALE, IL – Hinsdale has spent $1.5 million fighting fair housing lawsuits filed by the federal government and a sober living house.

In the summer of 2019, Trinity Sober Living opened in the house at 111 N. Grant St. Neighbors complained.

The village said the home violated its code because more than three unrelated people lived there and it was a commercial operation in a residential neighborhood.

In November 2020, Trinity filed a federal lawsuit alleging the village violated its rights under the federal Fair Housing and Americans With Disabilities acts.

A year later, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the village, making similar allegations.

The village confirmed its legal costs this week. Its law firm in the matter is Chicago-based Winston & Strawn.

Village President Tom Cauley did not return a phone message left at Village Hall.

But he told the Hinsdalean last month that Trinity never came to the village seeking reasonable accommodations or a waiver from the zoning code.

“I think there’s a really important principle at stake here — do villages have the ability to police their own residential single-family zoning districts?” Cauley told the newspaper.

Cauley's statement that Trinity never sought reasonable accommodation contradicts what the village's attorney said at the time.

Trinity points to an Aug. 7, 2019, letter in which it requested reasonable accommodation. In a court filing last year, Hinsdale admitted its attorney, Lance Malina, referred to Trinity's letter as an accommodation request in later communications.

The new law firm, however, denies the letter constituted a legitimate request for reasonable accommodation.

A day after the letter, the village sued Trinity in DuPage County Court. It asked the court to order the organization to end all commercial use of the property to comply with the neighborhood's single-family zoning.

Shortly before the federal government sued, the village abandoned the argument that the sober living house was a commercial use.

But it stuck with its assertion that the home violated the requirement on unrelated people.

In the recent interview with the Hinsdalean, Cauley, a lawyer himself, noted the legal bills amounted to a "big number." But he told the newspaper that the litigation deserved a firm that had done this type of case before.

Contacted Thursday, Trinity's attorney, Bradley Staubus, noted the Aug. 7, 2019, letter seeking a reasonable accommodation and the village's decision to file a lawsuit the next day. He had no further comment.

Trinity moved out of its Hinsdale house in late 2020. It has a house in Bensenville.

In March 2021, the Village Board approved a procedure for people to seek a reasonable accommodation under the Americans With Disabilities Act. It had no established process before.

In voting for the measure, trustees made no mention of the lawsuits.