Department of Justice Seal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CR

THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 1999

(202) 353-8584

WWW.USDOJ.GOV

TDD (202) 514-1888


CHICAGO AREA HOUSING DEVELOPMENT TO RENOVATE APARTMENT

UNITS TO BE ACCESSIBLE TO PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The owner and architect of a Chicago-area housing development has agreed to renovate apartment units so they are accessible to people with disabilities, under an agreement reached today with the Justice Department.

Today's agreement, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, resolves a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department in November 1997. The lawsuit alleged that Acorn Glen, a 120 unit condominium and townhouse development in Oak Lawn, Illinois, was not designed or built to provide access for people with disabilities in violation of the Fair Housing Act.

Under the Fair Housing Act, which was amended by Congress 1988, all units in a multi-family building with an elevator and all ground floor units in buildings without elevators are covered if they were built after March 1991. Covered units must have doors wide enough for wheelchairs, accessible routes throughout the unit, reachable light switches, electrical outlets and thermostats, reinforced bathroom walls so grab bars can be installed, and sufficient space in kitchens and bathrooms for people in wheelchairs to maneuver.

"The law is clear, and so is the violation," said Bill Lann Lee, Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. "It's much less costly to build units in compliance with the law from the start than it is to retrofit the units after the fact."

The lawsuit alleged that JDL Management Company (JDL) and KLLM Architects (KLLM), responsible for designing and constructing Acorn Glen, violated the Fair Housing Act by not including certain features which would make the units accessible. Specifically, the housing complexes were found to have inaccessible common areas, inaccessible routes into and through the units, doors that are too narrow for the passage of wheelchairs, and bathrooms that cannot accommodate grab bars.

Under the agreement, the JDL and KLLM will retrofit public use and common areas and modify future housing development plans to comply with the Fair Housing Act. They will also establish a $88,000 fund for persons who would like to modify their unit or for persons who would like to be reimbursed for modifications that have been previously performed. The cost of retrofitting the public and common use areas at Acorn Glen will cost JDL an additional $24,000.

Today's case is the result of a Justice Department investigation of Chicago-area builders. During the investigation, disabled and non-disabled people posed as potential buyers or renters to inspect properties to see if they met the federal accessibility requirements. The tests were performed in partnership with the John Marshall Law School Fair Housing Clinic and Access Living, a Chicago-based disability rights organization.

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