Case closed over Kalispell's handling of sobriety house

Responding to a complaint filed by Montana Fair Housing Inc., the U.S. Department of Justice said it was closing the case on Kalispell’s 2010 handling of a sobriety house on Third Avenue West, formerly known as Freedom House.

Montana Fair Housing, based in Butte, filed a complaint in November 2010 alleging that Kalispell had discriminated against the sobriety house and tried to put undue conditions on it.

“We have ... determined that the circumstances of this matter do not currently require enforcement by the Department of Justice. Accordingly, we have closed this matter,” Steven H. Rosenbaum, chief of the Civil Rights Division, Housing and Civil Enforcement, wrote in a Feb. 13 letter to the city of Kalispell.

Montana Fair Housing also filed its complaint with the Montana Human Rights Bureau.

“Quite a while ago, over six months ago, the state dismissed that claim,” said Charles Harball, Kalispell’s city attorney and interim city manager.

After learning the sobriety house was operating, Kalispell required it to apply for a conditional use permit.

That permit ultimately was approved by the Kalispell City Council, but only after months of delay and wrangling over possible conditions to attach to the permit.

If a group home houses fewer than eight people, conditions cannot be any more burdensome than for any other residence.

“They were operating without a conditional use permit and statute allows the city to require a conditional use permit. We do it all the time,” Harball said. He added that the $300 permit fee was waived for the group home.

Pam Bean, executive director of Montana Fair Housing, said the group asked for its complaint to be closed because the city was taking no further actions against the sobriety house.

“We felt like if the city was addressing the issues we were concerned about we didn’t see the need to pursue further litigation unless something else arises,” Bean said.

A lawsuit filed against Kalispell in U.S. District Court in Missoula also will be withdrawn“unless the city takes any further adverse actions, at which time we would refile immediately,” Bean said.

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.