ACLU sues Providence over student housing ordinance
By News Staff
The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island has filed a lawsuit against Providence, challenging a new ordinance that prohibits more than three college students from living together in certain parts of the city.
The ACLU says the ordinance is discriminatory and ineffective, and will likely impact lower-income students the most.
The lawsuit was filed in Superior Court on Tuesday on behalf of the owner of a home in the Elmhurst section of Providence, and also the four Johnson & Wales students who live there. The ordinance, enacted in September made their living arrangement illegal.
The lawsuit claims that “there is absolutely no reason to believe that restricting the number of student tenants in a small subset of available rental housing (i.e., single-family homes) will make the affected neighborhoods any quieter, safer or cleaner. On the contrary, the ordinance is an unconstitutional intrusion into the rights of college and graduate students to choose with whom they wish to live, and the rights of property owners to rent their homes to tenants of their choice.”
The lawsuit seeks to stop enforcement of the ordinance and have it declared unconstitutional.
© WLNE-TV 2016
