RLUIPA Applies To Law Aimed At Transitional Housing For Sex Offenders

In Martin v. Houston, (MD AL, July 25, 2016), an Alabama federal district court held that a pastor can invoke RLUIPA in challenging an Alabama law that would require him to close down his mobile home transitional housing arrangement for recently-released male sex offenders.  The law, which the state legislature made applicable to only one county, prohibits unrelated adult sex offenders from establishing residency in the same home or living less than 300 feet apart on the same property. The court concluded that the law constitutes a land use regulation under which the government makes individualized assessments of the proposed use of property.