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Judge More info needed about shelter that turn - Flash Player Installation

 

By

Brian Bowling

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Published: Thursday, Dec. 12, 2013, 1:42 p.m.

 

A faith-based, men's homeless shelter that turned away a blind man because of his seeing-eye dog might be exempt from federal housing and disability laws,

but it still has to prove that, a federal judge ruled on Thursday.

 

In separate lawsuits in November 2012 and June 2013, Kenneth DeFiore, whose age was unavailable, and the federal government, respectively, claim that City

Rescue Mission of New Castle violated federal regulations when it refused to provide DeFiore, who is blind, with shelter in December 2011 because of the

dog.

 

Bruce McElrath, chairman of the Philadelphia-based Disability Rights Advocacy Group Inc., said he's never heard of a homeless shelter refusing to take a

blind person.

 

“You can't turn somebody down because they're blind and have a seeing-eye dog,” he said. “I think that's horrible.”

 

Kevin Green, executive director and CEO of City Rescue Mission, and John Steidle, the lead attorney representing the shelter, couldn't be reached for comment.

 

The shelter, which requires residents to attend group meetings and church services during their stays, claims it's exempt from the Americans with Disabilities

Act and the Fair Housing Act because it's a religious organization.

 

Carol Horowitz, managing attorney of the Pittsburgh office of the Disability Rights Network, said she has heard of other cases in which shelters refused

people because of their service animals and wasn't surprised that one had.

 

“Certainly people with disabilities are discriminated against in services such as shelters on a regular basis,” she said. “Discrimination reaches all walks

of life.”

 

Most of those cases involve shelters that aren't handicapped accessible, she said. The Disability Rights Network is a private, nonprofit group appointed

by the state to protect and advocate for people with disabilities.

 

U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon denied the shelter's motion to dismiss the lawsuit, saying that determining whether it qualifies for the exemption requires

a factual examination of nine factors enumerated by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2005 case.

 

In that case, the appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that threw out an employment discrimination lawsuit an evangelical Christian filed against the

Lancaster Jewish Community Center because the court determined the center was a religious organization.

 

Bissoon's order allows the case to move forward and requires both sides to develop the facts to support their positions. In addition to the religious exemption,

the shelter claims it's exempt from the housing act because it doesn't sell or rent living space to the residents.

 

The judge said she couldn't rule on that issue without more facts, such as whether the shelter receives subsidies for housing the homeless.

 

Brian Bowling is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-325-4301 or

bbowling at tribweb.com.

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Source:

http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/5243857-74/shelter-court-federal#axzz2nSsL11YN