Justice Dept. sues Pennsylvania over a fire-safety requirement that limits housing options for people with autism or intellectual disabilities

The U.S. Department of Justice sued Pennsylvania for allegedly violating the Fair Housing Act by requiring automatic sprinkles in community homes for people with intellectual disabilities or autism, while not having a similar requirement for other types of housing.

Community home residents live independently and pay for room and board, but have extra assistance and avoid institutionalization. The program is managed through Medicaid.

There were about 5,600 such homes across Pennsylvania, housing more than 12,000 residents in 2023, according to the complaint.

The Justice Department’s lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, takes issue with an additional fire safety requirement that Pennsylvania imposes on community homes, but not on similar housing in which people without disabilities live. By imposing the additional requirement, the state is discriminating against people with disabilities by limiting the housing that can be used as community homes, the lawsuit contends.

“People with disabilities should not have their housing opportunities stripped away from them by restrictive safety measures that are simply not necessary,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a statement.

Community homes already have to meet many fire safety requirements, including smoke detectors and fire extinguishers, the complaint says. The homes must conduct unannounced fire drills monthly, and all residents must be able to evacuate the house within two and a half minutes in case of a fire emergency.

But because a community home is designated as a facility, and not a residential dwelling, in the building code, they are subject to the extra requirement.

» READ MORE: These are your rights as a tenant in Pennsylvania if you have disability (Published 2021)

Automatic sprinklers can be expensive, nearly $10,000 for a small single-family home, and the cost can be over $30,000 if upgrades are needed to the house’s water infrastructure, according to the lawsuit. And usually it is not feasible to install sprinklers only in one apartment in a multifamily building, making units in such buildings unavailable for people with intellectual disabilities or autism.

Pennsylvania has exempted other facilities — including small day cares — from the requirement that they install automatic sprinklers.

In addition to the Commonwealth, the lawsuit names the state’s Departments of Human Services and Labor and Industry as defendants.

A spokesperson for DHS, responding on behalf of the state, called the lawsuit “misguided.”

Building codes are adopted through a specific process that is outlined in the law, and depend on input of experts, the spokesperson said in a statement. And in specific instances that Pennsylvanians cannot comply with code requirements, they can seek a variance through their local board of appeals.

“Our Administration will continue to seek a fair balance between safety and access to services, to ensure Pennsylvanians with intellectual disabilities and autism can access the safe housing and assistance they rightly deserve,” the spokesperson said.