Intermountain Fair Housing Council v. Boise Rescue Mission
September 19, 2011 The lawsuit was filed by two named plaintiffs and the Intermountain Fair Housing Council in Idaho protesting alleged religious discrimination imposed by Boise Rescue Mission (BRM) on participants of its free addiction treatment program and its homeless shelter services. The appeals court judge said BRM’s activities qualify for a religious exemption for non-residential housing because they are operated for other than a commercial purpose. Requiring the addiction program participants to convert to Christianity (as defined by BRM) before permitting them to graduate constitutes giving preference to Christian participants. Therefore, the BRM addiction treatment program “does . . .
