Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
Thursday, Oct. 31
The Indiana Daily Student

City to challenge housing ruling

Case likely to end up in Indiana Supreme Court

A lawsuit over how many unrelated people can live under one roof could go to the Indiana Supreme Court after a state appeals court found the city\'s tenant restrictions unlawful.\nFor now, Bloomington officials must stop enforcing limitations on the number of unrelated adults who can live in a single residence. But city officials hope the situation is temporary, and expect few landlords to take advantage of it because most student housing for fall is already rented.\nCity assistant attorney Michael Flory told The Herald-Times in a story published Tuesday that he plans to file a petition within the next two weeks asking the Indiana Supreme Court to review the appeals court's recent decision.\nThe case has some homeowners worried that they may lose the protection the city provided when it passed a 1985 law limiting the number of unrelated adults living together to no more than three.\nCity council member Tim Mayer said the appeals court decision is important to people in every neighborhood.\n\"Without any control on the number of unrelated people in every house, we'll have more cars, more traffic, more garbage and more noise problems," Mayer said. "I'd like to invite the justices down to Bloomington to spend some time in the core neighborhoods to see what they think."\nThe disagreement that landed the city and landlord Peter Dvorak in court began almost seven years ago when a resident complained about overoccupancy at a rental house Dvorak owned.\nA city housing official investigating the complaint found eight cars parked at the house and five unrelated adults living there, with plans for a sixth.\nDvorak said he never thought the city's lawsuit against him could drag on so long. He's spent between $50,000 and $100,000 on attorneys fees, he said, to defend a principle, even though he won't gain personal financial benefit because he has sold his rental houses.\nAlthough city officials say the law is aimed at all unrelated adults, it has angered college students who feel they are being singled out.\n"I don't think it makes any sense," said Christina Ridge, 20, an IU senior. "I don't think you can tell whether people are going to be good neighbors by whether they're related or not"

Get stories like this in your inbox
Subscribe