Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp.

At issue in Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp. (1977) was whether the Village of Arlington Heights (“The Village”) was motivated by racial discrimination when it denied the Metropolitan Housing [Page 872]Development Corporation's (MHDC) request to rezone a 15-acre parcel of land from single-family to multiple-family classification. MHDC, a nonprofit developer, planned to build 190 racially integrated, clustered units for low- and moderate-income tenants. When The Village denied MHDC's request for rezoning, MHDC brought suit alleging racial discrimination.

As the plaintiff, MHDC had the burden of proving that the decision of The Village officials to deny the rezoning request was motivated by an intention to discriminate. The Supreme Court found that MHDC did not fulfill that burden. Instead, the Court found that discriminatory ...