Not always. The Supreme Judicial Court held that the Massachusetts Zoning Act requires cities and towns to treat people with disabilities in group living the same as comparable groups without disabilities, but it does not require them to be treated as a “family” when they do not meet the local definition. This is a published decision of the Supreme Judicial Court and binding statewide.
What happened
A nonprofit leased a three-unit house in a Fitchburg residential district and ran it as a sober house. Thirteen unrelated people lived there, including a live-in manager, spread unevenly across the three units. The parties agreed the residents count as people with disabilities under the statute. Fitchburg’s code allowed up to four unrelated people living as a single housekeeping unit to count as a family, and it did not allow boarding houses in that district. The building commissioner and the zoning board found the house was operating as a boarding house. The board still granted a reasonable accommodation under the federal Fair Housing Act that let up to twelve residents live there, spread across the units however the program chose, with the current thirteenth allowed to stay until someone left. A Superior Court judge annulled the board’s decision, ruling that the residents had to be treated as a family. The city appealed.
What the court decided
In BAK Realty, LLC v. Fitchburg, 495 Mass. 587 (2025), the court reversed the Superior Court and agreed with the board.
The fourth paragraph of G.L. c. 40A, § 3, bars local land use and health and safety rules from discriminating against a disabled person. It defines discrimination as imposing requirements on group living arrangements of unrelated people with disabilities that are not imposed on families and groups of similar size of other unrelated persons.
The property owner and the nonprofit argued that this language meant disabled residents must get the treatment of both families and other groups, whichever is better. The court disagreed for two reasons.
First, the statute does not define “family.” The Legislature left that to each city and town, as long as the local definition is lawful. No one argued Fitchburg’s definition was improper. So the residents had to meet it, and they did not. They did not live as a single housekeeping unit within each unit, and their numbers exceeded the cap for unrelated people.
Second, the court read “and” in the statute in its distributive sense. A local rule discriminates only if it imposes requirements on disabled residents that are not imposed on families or on similar-sized groups of unrelated people without disabilities. The statute forbids worse treatment. It does not require better treatment. Here, thirteen unrelated people without disabilities living the same way would also have been treated as a boarding house.
What this means for you
If you live in or run a sober home, group home or other shared housing for people with disabilities, this decision matters. Section 3 still protects you from rules that single you out. A town cannot impose limits on your house that it would not impose on a similar group of people without disabilities.
But you cannot rely on § 3 alone to be treated as a family if your group does not fit the local definition. Check how your city or town defines “family” and what uses are allowed in your district.
Notice what helped these residents. The board granted a reasonable accommodation under the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B), which let the program keep up to twelve residents and spread them across units. A reasonable accommodation request is often the practical path when a zoning rule does not fit the way a recovery or group home needs to operate.
What to do now
- Read your local zoning code’s definitions of “family,” “boarding house” and “lodging house,” and the uses allowed in your district.
- Compare how the code treats a similar group of people without disabilities living the same way.
- If a rule blocks your housing, make a written reasonable accommodation request to the building official or zoning board, and explain why it is needed.
- Keep records of every notice, decision and hearing, and calendar appeal deadlines.
- Get legal advice before a zoning or eviction deadline passes.
If this is your situation, call Doubleday Law at (617) 575-2006 or tell us what happened. Deadlines for discrimination and employment claims can be short.
