Complaint may become federal lawsuit

The U.S. Justice Dept. will investigate a claim that Newport Beach discriminates against its recovering drug addicts and alcoholics, an attorney for Pacific Shores Recovery said Thursday.

“We think this is an important step in ... getting Newport Beach to understand that what they’ve done violates the federal Fair Housing Act,” said Steven Polin, a Washington D.C.-based attorney for Pacific Shores Recovery, which houses recovering addicts and alcoholics at two Newport addresses.

Pacific Shores’ complaint, filed with the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development earlier this year, has been handed to the Justice Dept., which could be the first step in a federal discrimination lawsuit, Polin said.

Efforts to reach Justice or HUD officials for comment were unsuccessful Thursday.

The complaint alleges a city-imposed moratorium on new rehabilitation homes in the city, which began in April 2007, is discriminatory. The moratorium ended when the city passed a new ordinance in January requiring most of the homes to undergo a public hearing process to obtain permits.

Polin said he believes his client’s complaint also addresses the new ordinance, which he also claims discriminates against people battling addiction.

“You can’t pass legislation telling a particular group of people they can’t live in your town,” Polin said.

Handing the complaint up to the Justice Dept. is routine in such matters and does not necessarily mean HUD found fault with the city’s laws, said attorney Peter Pierce, who is representing the city in the matter.

“The ordinance is legal under federal and state law and is valid under that federal and state law,” Pierce said.

Pacific Shores claims its two facilities in Newport Beach don’t offer treatment, counseling or therapy — just a place for sober addicts to live. The homes aren’t licensed by the state, so the law treats them the same as it would a group of roommates living together in a private home, Polin said.

Pacific Shores is one of two local rehab homes the city sued in November last year for allegedly violating the moratorium. The suit claims Pacific Shores opened new residential facilities for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts while the moratorium was in effect.

The facility houses its clients at 492 and 494 Orange Ave. Recovering addicts have the same legal rights as disabled people in the eyes of the law under the federal Fair Housing Act, he said.

Newport’s moratorium was not discriminatory against any other rehabilitation home because the city offered people with federally protected disabilities, like addiction, the opportunity to apply for reasonable accommodation through its zoning codes, attorney Jim Markman, said earlier this year. Markman also represents Newport Beach on the rehabilitation home issue. Pacific Shores never applied, he said.

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at [email protected].