Fair housing group sues Boise shelter

BOISE – The Intermountain Fair Housing Council is suing the Boise Rescue Mission in federal court, claiming the mission’s shelters committed religious discrimination by coercing residents into taking part in Christian services.

In the recently filed lawsuit, the housing council contends the Boise Rescue Mission violated the federal Fair Housing Act by discriminating against non-Christian residents at its City Light Home for Women and Children, its Front Street Men’s Mission homeless shelter and its River of Life Rescue Mission homeless shelter.

Rev. Bill Roscoe, the executive director of the Boise Rescue Mission, said the allegations were unfounded and that he expected the case to be dismissed.

“The fact of the matter is, two years ago these same folks filed the same exact charges against us with the (U.S. Department of) Housing and Urban Development,” Roscoe said. “HUD investigated those complaints thoroughly, interviewed us, took depositions and in the end they dismissed every one of those allegations as being unfounded.”

According to the lawsuit, Janene Cowles lived at City Light in 2006 to take part in a court-ordered residential substance abuse treatment program. Cowles, who is joining in the lawsuit, claims she was required to participate in religious activities including praying, Bible recitation and the “laying on of hands,” and that she was regularly required to “cast out demons” in the facility using oil and holy water.

When Cowles asked to be transferred to a nonreligious program, Sheryl Keller, the women’s ministry director at City Light, reportedly told her that because she had not ” ‘opened her heart’ to Christianity her only option was to go back to jail,” according to the lawsuit.

Richard Chinn, who is also joining the suit, contends he was discriminated against while he stayed at the River of Life and Front Street shelters. During one stay at Front Street, he alleged he was forced to participate in evangelical Christian services in order to get shelter and meals. Staff members made derogatory comments about Chinn’s own Mormon faith, he contends. He also alleged shelter workers gave better treatment to residents who participated in the religious programs.

It’s not the first time the rescue mission has faced legal action over its religious practices. In 2006, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered that the mission stop asking clients to explain why they do not want to attend prayer meetings before they are fed or sheltered. The questions amounted to a subtle form of coercion, Winmill said at the time.

Roscoe said shelter leaders have always been upfront about their beliefs.

“We’re overtly Christian and we don’t make any secret about that. We try to represent the Gospel to people in a tangible way,” Roscoe said. “We’ve done that for 50 years and I don’t understand why folks think we ought not to do that.”