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Hinneberg v. Big Stone County Housing and Redevelopment Authority11/23/2005
Appellant Beth Hinneberg challenges the denial of her request for an accommodation to the residency policy of Respondent Big Stone County Housing and Redevelopment Authority (Big Stone County HRA) to enable Hinneberg to use Big Stone County HRA's Section 8 housing voucher outside of its housing jurisdiction. Hinneberg claims that her medical conditions require this accommodation and argues that the denial amounts to disability discrimination in violation of the reasonable accommodations provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. § 12132 (2000), the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 (FHAA), 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(1), (3) (2000), and the Minnesota Human Rights Act (MHRA), Minn. Stat. § 363A.10 (2004). The court of appeals held that FHAA does not apply to public housing authorities and that, in any event, reasonable accommodation does not require Big Stone County HRA to make an exception to its residency policy for Hinneberg because the residency policy applies equally to disabled and nondisabled applicants and thus it does not deny equal opportunity to Hinneberg. Hinneberg v. Big Stone County Hous. and Redevelopment Auth., No. A04-435, 2004 WL 2986536, at *3 (Minn. App. Dec. 28, 2004). We affirm, though on different grounds.
Big Stone County HRA operates a Section 8 housing program funded by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The Section 8 program offers housing vouchers to qualified applicants to offset monthly rental payments. 42 U.S.C. § 1437f(o) (2000). The goal of the program is to promote economically mixed housing and make affordable housing available to low-income households. 42 U.S.C. § 1437f(a) (2000).
Appellant Beth Hinneberg lived in Hopkins, Minnesota, but planned on moving to Big Stone County, where she grew up and has family. She applied for and received a voucher for Section 8 housing from Big Stone County HRA. Hinneberg looked for housing in Big Stone County for a short period of time, but then reconsidered because of the close proximity she had in Hopkins to an established network of health care providers that treated her disabilities.
A general feature of Section 8 vouchers is that they can be transferred, or "ported," anywhere within the United States so long as the area has a Section 8 program. 42 U.S.C. § 1437f(r)(1)(A) (2000); 24 C.F.R. § 982.353(b) (2005). But both the federal act creating the program and the regulations adopted by HUD to implement the act authorize individual public housing authorities to restrict portability for a person who, like Hinneberg, was not residing in its jurisdiction at the time the applicant first applied for assistance. 42 U.S.C. § 1437(r)(1)(B)(i); 24 C.F.R. § 982.353(c)(2)(ii). A public housing authority can require the person to first live within its jurisdiction for 12 months before porting its voucher. Id. Consistent with this authorization, Big Stone County HRA adopted the following residency policy regarding portability:
If the head or spouse of the assisted family does not have a legal residence or work in the jurisdiction of the Big Stone County Housing Authority at the time of its application, the family will not have any right to lease a unit outside of the Big Stone County Housing Authority jurisdiction for a 12 month period beginning when the family is first admitted to the program. During this period, the family may only lease a unit located in the jurisdiction of the Big Stone County Authority.
Because Hinneberg lived outside of Big Stone County when she applied for the program, this policy disqualified her from porting her voucher unless she first leased a unit in Big Stone County for 12 months. Hinneberg requested an ex
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