Two complaints were filed in September 1996 by Nancy V. Kirk under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, as amended against Guilford Management Corp. and Park Tower Apartments which are located in Loves Park, Illinois. Ms. Kirk has a respiratory condition aggravated by her neighbors’ secondhand tobacco smoke entering her apartment at ParkTower, which is a HUD-subsidized high-rise for the elderly and the disabled. A conciliation agreement was entered into by the parties in late 1997 and approved by HUD in January 1998. The terms of the agreement provide that ParkTower will go smoke-free, beginning with new tenants moving in on or after March 15, 1998. [The no-smoking policy will not affect current tenants.] ParkTower will not preclude smokers from moving in as long as they agree to comply with the no-smoking policy. Violators of the no-smoking policy will receive written warnings; after the issuance of three warning letters to a violator within a one-month period, eviction proceedings shall begin. Since the transition to a smoke-free building will take many years, ParkTower agrees to inquire of several tenants currently residing in an area of the building having fewer smokers as to their willingness to be relocated to another apartment, thereby vacating an apartment to allow Kirk to move into a less smoke-filled area.
HUD Case No. 05-97-0010-8, 504 Case No. 05-97-11-0005-370 (1998).