On April 19, 2016, Relman Colfax filed this Fair Housing Act lawsuit in federal district court in Chicago on behalf of the Buckeye Community Hope Foundation, a non-profit affordable housing developer, against the Village of Tinley Park for obstructing Buckeye's proposed construction of a 47-unit affordable housing development in response to discriminatory community opposition.
In early 2015, Buckeye Community Hope Foundation began plans to develop The Reserve, a 47-unit affordable housing complex in the Village of Tinley Park, Illinois that would serve the area's low-income households. The development would have disproportionately served African Americans and families with children and help address the acute shortage of affordable rental housing in the Tinley Park area. The Village was initially supportive of the project but, after Tinley Park residents expressed discriminatory attitudes toward African Americans, officials acceded to the discrimination. They expressed support for the opponents, revealed their own discriminatory attitudes, and ultimately took a series of unprecedented and impermissible actions intended to delay and derail the project.
The lawsuit alleged that the Village's actions discriminated against African Americans and families with children and perpetuated segregation in the community, in violation of the Fair Housing Act and Illinois laws. After preliminary motion practice and discovery, the parties negotiated a $2.45 million settlement.
The Relman Colfax team was led by Reed Colfax, Joe Wardenski, and Alexa Milton. The firm co-counseled with the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law and the Chicago office of Holland & Knight LLP.
Case Caption
Buckeye Community Hope Foundation v. Village of Tinley Park, No. 1:16-cv-04430 (N.D. Ill.)