El Paso County’s ‘discriminatory’ land-use code limited access to addiction recovery facilities

MONUMENT, Colo. (KRDO) - Addiction recovery organizations are praising the Colorado Court of Appeal’s recent ruling that a section of El Paso County’s land-use code was discriminatory and violated federal law.

For years, El Paso County had a land-use code on the books that capped the number of people who could live in a group home facility at five. However, other group homes, like elderly residents, had an eight-person limit.

Soaring Hope Recovery ran a five-bed facility in Monument but wanted to expand. It filed a lawsuit in 2018, claiming the code was discriminatory and violated the Fair Housing Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, and other federal laws. According to federal law, a disabled person includes those with mental and physical disabilities but also those struggling with addiction.

“You just can't arbitrarily treat people differently, particularly if it's a protected person like disabled people,” said Rachel Maxam, the attorney representing Soaring Hope Recovery.

Due to the occupancy restrictions, Soaring Hope Recovery couldn’t be financially sustainable and had to close its doors.

“The time and stress it caused of having the county breathing down their neck all the time — it ultimately caused Soaring Hope to go under because, with the five-person occupancy limit, they couldn't pay the bills anymore,” Maxam said.

Soaring Hope Recovery wasn’t the only rehabilitation facility affected by the county’s code. Addiction recovery organizations across the county saw limited access.

“It's critical that (addicts) get into safe homes that can help treat their recovery right away,” said Trudy Hodges, the CEO of Serenity Recovery Connection. “Without that, they'll fall back into use.”

Serenity Recovery Connection in Colorado Springs helps addicts find group homes and other rehab facilities. They said the county’s code at the time limited options and affected the recovery community.

“If we don't have places to put them, the chances of their recovery are really reduced significantly, and we saw a need for more beds then,” Hodges said.

Soaring Hope Recovery’s lawsuit dragged on for years before it went to jury trial in 2020. The jury sided with El Paso County, so Soaring Hope Recovery appealed.

On Thursday, three appellate judges sided with the rehabilitation facility.

“We hold that the County violated the FHAA by imposing facially discriminatory occupancy limits on group homes for disabled persons without a legally permissible justification,” the judges said in their opinion.

The ruling won’t affect El Paso County’s land-use code in question though, because in 2022 during the lawsuit, the county changed its code to align with federal law. Maxam said she had no idea until just recently about the code change.

“I can only guess that it was in response to this lawsuit,” Maxam said. “They realized they were in hot water.”

Now, disabled group homes can house up to nine people with special use approval. El Paso County said it is reviewing the judge’s ruling and declined to comment.

“They have changed it now, which may have probably never happened, except for the lawsuit breathing down on them and fear that they were going to lose,” Maxam said.