The Hillsdale Zoning Board of Appeals denied a request from a proposed sober living home to operate in a business district during its Feb. 11 meeting.
HOPE Harbor — which stands for Hillsdale Opportunity Promoting Empowerment — is the new name for a sober transitional housing facility that its director, Melissa “Missy” DesJardin, hopes to create behind Hillsdale Community Thrift. DesJardin — who previously ran the makeshift homeless shelter, Camp Hope — aims to use a former storage building to house residents, but the project hit a roadblock last November when the Hillsdale Planning Commission rejected a request to convert the structure into a “dwelling facility.”
Assistant City Manager Sam Fry said the property’s zoning designations — B-3, the city’s general business district — contain standard restrictions that apply regardless of the applicant.
“That’s completely agnostic to who the property owner is,” Fry said, referring to the district’s prohibition on first-floor residential use. “That’s not discriminatory in any manner toward the property owner, the petitioner, or the applicant. That’s just the standard.”
In a letter submitted to city officials on Jan. 12, the Fair Housing Center of Southeast & Mid Michigan said the planning commission improperly denied HOPE Harbor permission to operate a sober living home within the city.
“To deny HOPE Harbor’s request is imposing an unnecessary barrier to housing for people with disabilities in the City of Hillsdale,” wrote Jessica Farley, associate director of the organization.
The Fair Housing Center is a nonprofit organization based in Ypsilanti that investigates complaints of illegal housing discrimination. According to Farley, cities are required by law to make reasonable accommodations for housing that serves people recovering from substance use disorders.
“People in recovery from substance use disorders and housing designated for people in recovery are protected by the Federal Fair Housing Act, the Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act, and the Michigan Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act,” Farley said in the letter.
Farley also said that even though the proposed HOPE Harbor location is not currently zoned for residential use, zoning rules do not override fair housing protections when housing for people with disabilities is involved. Federal guidance from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Justice requires cities to make reasonable accommodations in these cases, she said.
Hillsdale City Council Member Joshua Paladino disputed that the denial constituted discrimination, saying the decision was based on longstanding zoning and safety requirements rather than opposition to sober living housing.
“The city followed its ordinances and its procedures to review this matter,” Paladino said. “The planning commission reviewed it impartially, according to our laws, and they made the determination that they made.”
Paladino said the city has not passed any new ordinances in response to HOPE Harbor and has only enforced regulations already on the books.
“We have done nothing, from a legislative or administrative standpoint, except enforce laws that are already in place,” Paladino said. “Portraying this as if we’ve gone out of our way to persecute them is simply not accurate.”
According to Paladino, the primary violation involved the structure itself, which he said does not meet zoning requirements for residential use.
“The structure was not authorized because it isn’t a permanent structure,” Paladino said. “You can’t just erect a tent and have people live in it. If anyone did that on their own property, the city would intervene for the same health and safety reasons.”
Fry said the zoning board’s denial represents the end of the city’s local administrative review process unless HOPE Harbor chooses to pursue legal action.
“Any petitioner to the zoning board of appeals, if they’re denied, the next step, should they wish to appeal, is to go to circuit court,” Fry said. “But as far as your local administrative options, the zoning board of appeals denial is where it ends, unless the petition chooses to take it on.”
Fry noted that residential living spaces are allowed as long as they are not on the first floor of a building.
“In the B-3 district, you can have a mixed-use building where the first floor is commercial,” Fry said. “And then you can have residential units on the second floor, which is allowed here in B-3.”
The Fair Housing Center’s letter cited one of its previous cases from 2023, when the city of Howell agreed to pay $750,000 to settle a housing discrimination lawsuit involving a sober living home. According to a 2023 press release from the organization, Howell imposed a 20-month ban on a proposed sober living facility following opposition from neighbors.
“This type of differential treatment of housing for people with disabilities is plainly prohibited by federal and state antidiscrimination laws,” the press release stated. “The city was intentionally discriminating by giving force to opposition from neighbors.”
DesJardin said she believes the Howell case closely resembles HOPE Harbor’s situation.
“When you read the case, you will find that literally you could take the name of that transitional housing out of it and put our name right in it,” DesJardin said. “That’s how closely the cities acted.”
