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JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SUES TWO APARTMENT COMPLEXES

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Justice Department today sued the Homestead Apartment Homes and Wyncroft Hills Apartments in Olathe, Kan. for failing to comply with the federal Fair Housing Act's requirement that multifamily housing built since 1991 be accessible to persons with disabilities.

The suit, filed today in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan. charges that Todd E. Bleakley, Charles Bleakley, Bleakley Investment Company, Bleakley Development Co., Inc., Bleakley Development Company, LLC and Bleakley Development, LP, along with LNL Associates/Architects, P.A. and Allenbrand-Drews and Associates, violated federal civil rights law by designing and building these apartment complexes without required features that allow persons with disabilities to use them. Under the Fair Housing Act, all units in elevator buildings, ground-floor units in other buildings, and common and public use areas at all recently built apartment complexes must include certain features that allowing persons with disabilities to use them. The requirements include doors that are wide enough for wheelchairs to pass through; kitchens and bathrooms with enough space to allow persons in wheelchairs to use the appliances, sinks, toilets and bathtubs; and accessible routes that allow persons in wheelchairs to get into and move around apartments and common and public use areas without climbing steps or going up steeply sloped sidewalks.

The lawsuit alleges numerous violations of the accessibility requirements such as doors that are too narrow for wheelchairs, steps and thresholds that are barriers to access, and kitchens and bathrooms that are unusable for persons in wheelchairs.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development referred the case to the Department of Justice after its investigation revealed violations of the Fair Housing Act and negotiations failed to produce a settlement. The developers were unwilling to make all of the changes needed to ensure that units currently under construction at Homestead and units planned for future construction will fully comply with Fair Housing Act requirements.

The Justice Department is seeking a court order requiring the defendants to make Homestead and Wyncroft Hills accessible to persons with disabilities, to compensate persons with disabilities whose rights have allegedly been violated, and to pay punitive damages and civil penalties.

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