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Monday, July 13, 2015

Housing Authority Not Liable for Landlords' Drug Policies


Five residents of buildings in Chicago who received housing vouchers sued the Chicago Housing Authority, claiming that the CHA violated their constitutional rights because building owners required annual drug tests for occupancy. The district court denied injunctive relief to the residents, finding that the drug testing policies were the actions of private actors (i..e, the building landlords) , and not a state (CHA) policy.  The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, finding that the CHA had no policy mandating drug testing at mixed-income developments like those where plaintiffs resided. The court further rejected plaintiffs' argument that the CHA encouraged or urged building landlords to enact drug policies, finding that "a lot of urging" by the government does not translate into the force of law.  Peery v. Chicago Housing Authority (7th Cir. July 1, 2015).

Post Authored by Julie Tappendorf

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