INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A federal judge in Indiana ruled in favor of the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana (ACLU of Indiana), granting a preliminary injunction that prohibits the Indiana Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from imposing discriminatory building standards on a recovery home for men with disabilities.
On Nov. 5, Chief Judge Tanya Walton Pratt of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana issued the ruling, siding with the ACLU of Indiana in a lawsuit filed earlier this year on behalf of Next Step Recovery Homes.
The ACLU argued that DHS was unlawfully discriminating against Next Step by classifying its residential recovery facility as a Class 1 structure, giving it a designation with stricter and more costly building requirements solely because the home serves people recovering from substance use disorders.
Next Step is a nonprofit organization that operates a group home in Dubois County in partnership with Behind the Wire, a faith-based recovery services provider.