On June 13, 2018, a resettlement non-profit for the Somali community and six Black apartment–renters and –seekers in Faribault, Minnesota, filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. The plaintiffs sued the City of Faribault under the Fair Housing Act and 42 U.S.C. § 1981. The plaintiffs, represented by the ACLU and private counsel, sought injunctive, declaratory, and monetary relief, along with attorneys’ fees, claiming violations of the Fair Housing Act and the equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Minnesota Constitution. The plaintiffs alleged that the City of Faribault adopted a discriminatory housing ordinance in order to target the growing population of Black and Somali residents. The ordinance allowed police to evict an entire household if they deemed any one member to have engaged in criminal activity, even without an arrest or prosecution. It also prohibited landlords from leasing to tenants with any criminal record and limited the number of people allowed to reside in a unit to two people per legal bedroom plus one. The plaintiffs alleged that the ordinance had the intent and effect of denying dwellings specifically to Black and Somali residents. The case was assigned to Chief Judge John R. Tunheim.

On June 29 2018, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint, and the plaintiffs filed a second amended complaint on Dec 18, 2019.

Since the lawsuit was filed, the parties have vigorously litigated discovery, and the case is ongoing.

Ashton Dubey - 01/04/2020


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