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City of Anoka put residents with mental illness who call 911 at risk of eviction, DOJ lawsuit says yahoo.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from yahoo.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Department of Justice is suing the suburb and proposing a consent decree following alleged discrimination, and state lawmakers also passed legislation this session to prevent cities from penalizing people for emergency calls. ....
Hundreds of communities across the U.S. have for several decades tried to reduce crime, fight gangs and tackle noise and other neighborhood problems through the use of “crime-free" or “public nuisance” laws encouraging and allowing landlords to evict renters when police or emergency crews are repeatedly called to the same addresses. Long the subject of criticism that such policies are ineffective and enforced more harshly in poor neighborhoods and against people of color, the ordinances are now under scrutiny as sources of mental health discrimination. Last November, the U.S. Department of Justice issued what it called a first-of-its-kind finding, telling a Minneapolis suburb that its enforcement of a crime-free law illegally discriminated against people with mental health disabilities. ....
Nuisance property laws and similar policies punish vaguely defined activities with eviction. They tend to increase homelessness, reduce safety and promote segregation. ....
Starting Jan. 1, California will make crime-free housing laws unenforceable, ending local rules long criticized as unfair and racially discriminatory. ....