The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU) announced Tuesday it filed a complaint to the state’s civil rights agency alleging Riverside officials violated anti-discrimination laws before, during and after a vote to reject $20 million in state funds for an affordable housing project.
“There were a number of comments made by the council members that really conflated someone’s unhoused status with having certain behavioral health needs and then equating both of those things with criminality,” Kath Rogers, the ACLU senior staff attorney who filed the complaint, told The Riverside Record. “Those are the types of stereotypes that we’re looking at in terms of the discrimination that motivated the vote.”
The complaint, filed with the California Civil Rights Department, alleged that Council members Philip Falcone, Steven Robillard, Chuck Conder and Sean Mill made the decision to not accept the state grant based on “explicitly discriminatory remarks against the people who would stand to benefit” from the motel conversion project.
Phil Pitchford, public information officer for the city, said the city was aware of the complaint filed and would review it through the appropriate process.
“The city of Riverside remains committed to expanding housing opportunities and addressing homelessness in a way that is effective, sustainable and accountable to the community,” Pitchford said in an email to The Record.
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In the complaint, the ACLU asked the department to expedite the filing’s processing and serve the complaint “as soon as possible” so that the city could reverse its initial vote and accept the funding for the project.
Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson, during public comment at the April 14 city council meeting, said that the time to reconsider the vote had passed, reiterating what the city said in a February 27 statement. Dawson added the city was speaking with the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to reprogram the funds into different projects.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development, in an email to The Record, said that as of April 9 the city officially declined to move forward with the grant.
Back in January, the Riverside City Council voted 4-3 to reject a state grant that would have funded a local nonprofit’s plan to convert the Quality Inn Motel on University Avenue into apartments for people exiting homelessness and low-income residents.
During council deliberations, and in the weeks after, the four council members said they voted against accepting the state funds because residents were left out of the planning phase. They also said that the project would have negated years of growth in the neighborhood and that they didn’t fully agree with the state’s housing first policy that focuses on getting people into shelter before providing wraparound services.
In the complaint, Rogers submitted a list of statements the four council members made about the project last year, during council deliberation on the funding and published online following the vote.
“We cited a number of the anti-discrimination laws in our letter that we wanted to make them aware of that we believe the city has violated,” Rogers said. “If [the state agency] were to sue, their purview is enforcement of anti-discrimination laws, and so each law has its own remedies listed under each statute.”
The complaint followed a monthslong effort by housing advocates to push the city council to reverse course and accept the funding for the project.
At the April 14 council meeting, more than a dozen local housing advocates came out to ask the council to reconsider its decision during public comment — with some arguing that the complaint, and the potential for litigation, opened the door for the city to reverse course. Last week, local housing advocates also held a press conference outside of Riverside City Hall to rally against the council’s decision.
Back in March, the ACLU, along with two other nonprofit law firms, held a press conference highlighting their concerns with the council’s decision and to warn of potential litigation. In a Raincross Gazette op-ed published the same day, Robillard argued that policy disagreements should not become lawsuits in an effort to circumvent council decisions.
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That rat Falcone ran from the dais after his vote. He voted solely to help his friends and contributors of the Farmhouse Collective based solely on his discriminatory remarks against homeless people. He needs to go, GTFOH!! What a disappointment!!