Intermountain Fair Housing Council v. Boise Rescue Mission Ministries

We consider the extent of the protection afforded by the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 3601-3631 , against religious discrimination. Defendant Boise Rescue Mission Ministries, a non-profit Christian organization, operates a residential drug treatment program and, at the time relevant to this appeal, two homeless shelters in Boise, Idaho. Plaintiffs Janene Cowles, Richard Chinn, and Intermountain Fair Housing Council allege that Defendant engages in religious discrimination in providing shelter and residential recovery services, in violation of the FHA. The district court granted summary judgment to Defendant, and we affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Defendant is an Idaho non-profit corporation, originally incorporated as “Christ’s Gospel Mission, Inc.,” for the purposes of “providing] for the worship of God, the teaching and preaching of the Word of God, the winning of people to a personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spiritual improvement of mankind, ... and to extend the ministry of the Gospel unto all the earth.” To those ends, Defendant operates two services that are relevant here. First, Defendant has a residential drug treatment program…