The Nation - News from June 21, 1989

The Justice Department filed its first housing discrimination suit on behalf of the handicapped, accusing a Chicago suburb of illegally blocking construction of a home for the mentally retarded. The suit, filed in federal court in Chicago, charges the city of Chicago Heights, Ill., discriminated against the handicapped and seeks to allow the construction of a home for 15 mentally retarded adults. Last September, Congress amended the Fair Housing Act of 1968 to bar discrimination against the handicapped and families, and to allow the government to collect damages for housing infractions. The Chicago Heights dispute began in May when the City Council rejected a special permit application from RFMS Inc., a Galesburg, Ill., company that specializes in developing homes for the retarded.