Cohabitation ban

[muon2]

This could provide an interesting test if it makes its way to the SCOTUS. The court has relied on its twin pillars of Belle Terre (1974) and East Cleveland (1977) to define the outer boundaries of relationships in a household that government may permit by zoning. In Oxford House (1995) they nibbled at the ultimate question of whether any family relations may be used in conjunction with the Fair Housing Act, but refused to take it on directly.

The definitions under the FHA are critical to municipal understanding of what zoning rules may pertain to household composition. Even though this is not a zoning law, I'm sure it will have ramifications if it goes far.

In our city we avoid the question of relationships in households entirely. We strictly use floor area and room configurations to determine who (and how many) may occupy a structure.