Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp.
United States Supreme Court
429 U.S. 252 (1977)
Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. (MHDC) (plaintiff) applied to the Village of Arlington Heights (defendant) to rezone a 15-acre single-family parcel for a racially integrated, nearly 200-unit townhouse complex marketed to low- and moderate-income tenants; the Village denied the permit, and MHDC sued in federal court alleging the denial was racially discriminatory in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Fair Housing Act. The district court upheld the denial, the court of appeals reversed, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Whether the Village's denial of a zoning reclassification permit for a racially integrated multi-family dwelling violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.