U.S. Sues to Bar AIDS Patient’s Eviction

In the first suit of its kind in Southern California, the federal government on Tuesday charged a Huntington Beach mobile home park with trying to evict a man because he has AIDS.

In a civil lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, prosecutors accuse Huntington Shorecliffs Mobile Home Park of violating fair housing laws by trying to expel Steven Lewis, who has lived for the past year with his mother, Shirley Lewis.

The 308-unit park on Beach Boulevard is restricted to residents 55 years old and older. Younger relatives may live with the homeowner, but they must be 45 or older. Steven Lewis is 39; his mother is 61. The park managers have been trying to evict him since late last year, citing his age.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Suzanne Bell said the federal Fair Housing Act requires that such parks make “reasonable accommodations” for people with the AIDS virus, regardless of their age.

Bell said she would seek a court order to stop Lewis’ eviction, and that she would seek damages against Huntington Shorecliffs. The suit marked the first time in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas that the federal government has brought a fair housing suit against a mobile home park on behalf of a person with AIDS.

“Landlords and homeowners have a duty to make accommodations to the handicapped,” Bell said. “It is not going to cost them anything.”

Wayne Beer, the manager of the mobile home park, said the park’s actions to evict Lewis had nothing to do with his disease. Beer said the park is just trying to enforce its age limits.

“We didn’t even know he had a disability,” Beer said.

Shirley Lewis bought a mobile home in the park in 1991. Her son, who nine years ago was found to have the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome, moved in last April. She said he was no longer able to care for himself.

“There are days when he doesn’t get out of bed at all,” said William Carolan, the family’s lawyer.

Lewis has said she warned management at Shorecliffs when she moved in that she would someday have to care for her son.

In December, she filed a complaint with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which investigated and determined the situation probably was discriminatory.

According to the Lewises’ suit, the park twice before allowed people younger than 45 to move in with park residents.

Neither of the Lewises, who still live in the mobile home park, could be reached for comment Tuesday.

Neighbors in the park expressed surprise when they heard of the lawsuit. Some said that, while they sympathize with the Lewises, the park’s the age limit had enticed them to buy there in the first place. They said they were concerned about the precedent of allowing younger people to live in the park.

“I’ve got a place in my heart for people like that,” said Charles Moore, who lives in the home across from the Lewises. “But I don’t think they should trespass on the rules.”