Val French v. City of Shawnee, Kansas, et al.

More than fifty years ago, this Court held that the Village of Belle Terre, New York, could prohibit unrelated adults from living together in a singlefamily home without offending the Constitution. Vill. of Belle Terre v. Boraas, 416 U.S. 1 (1974). Subsequent precedents, such as Roberts v. U.S. Jaycees, 468 U.S. 609 (1984) and City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, 473 U.S. 432 (1985), cast significant doubt on Belle Terre’s continuing viability, and several state high courts have rejected its reasoning. Meanwhile, despite housing shortages, municipalities nationwide place restrictions on unrelated households—forcing bedrooms to remain empty and criminalizing the shared-housing arrangements on which many Americans increasingly depend. The questions presented are:

1. Whether, contrary to Belle Terre, an ordinance that prohibits people from living together in a home solely on the basis of their family relationship status violates the Fourteenth Amendment.

2. Whether the government’s desire to maintain the single-family character of neighborhoods is a constitutionally sufficient basis for an ordinance that prohibits unrelated people from sharing a home throughout a city, including in high-density, multifamily zones.