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Why Are Zoning Laws Defining What Constitutes a Family? [citylab.com]

 

By Kate Redburn, CityLab, June 17, 2019.

Laura Rozza and Simon DeSantis were overjoyed to discover that the mansion on Scarborough Street was within their price range. The ten-bedroom, five-bathroom home in Hartford, Connecticut, could be theirs for $453,000, and would have plenty of room for their family. In July of 2012 they purchased the property but just a few weeks after moving in, they received a cease-and-desist letter from the city of Hartford ordering them to leave, as first covered by the Hartford Courant.

According to the city, Rozza, DeSantis, and their chosen family—totaling eight adults and three children—violated the definition of “family” in the Hartford zoning code. The ordinance allowed an unlimited number of people related by blood, marriage, civil union, or adoption to constitute a zoning family, but only two unrelated people could legally co-habitate in a dwelling designated for a single family. The “Scarborough 11,” as they came to be known, refused to leave their home, and Hartford sued them in federal court. After years of litigation, including a countersuit from the Scarborough 11, the city dropped the suit in 2016 citing costs, and the town even revised its zoning ordinance to increase the number of legal unrelated cohabitants to three. Although they have been able to stay in their home, the Scarborough 11 faced blatant discrimination because their family is “functional” rather than “formal.”

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