A small Christian-only town in Michiganhas been told it cannot ban non-Christian homeowners from living in the community. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said that the Bay View Association, which runs the community, failed to show proof of exemption from the Fair Housing Act in light of the complaints lodged against it in 2016.
The HUD Midwest Regional Office sent the complainants a letter indicating that it does not condone Bay View Association's policy against disallowing non-Christians to live in their community. HUD also said that an investigation into the violations against the Fair Housing Act would be underway.
"The United State Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, Region V, has determined that the Respondent Bay View Association has not met its burden to prove it is exempt from the federal Fair Housing Act," the letter dated May 7 read.
Some 400 families affiliated with the United Method Church currently live in the resort community. In the 1940s, the association established two strict requirements for home ownership - that the person buying a house or property must be white and Christian.
The association scrapped the race requirement a decade later but the Christian requirement remained in place. Potential homeowners needed to provide the association with a letter from their pastor if they intended to live in Bay View.
Some of the complainants from the Bay View Chautauqua Inclusiveness Group alleged that they couldn't give their houses to their non-practicing children because of the association's rules. They also argued that the Bay View Association is a domestic profit corporation that pays its taxes, and therefore isn't a church.
Dick Crossland, a longtime Bay View resident and member of the board, told Michigan Radio that people who want to live in their community are fully aware of the requirements and the association's Christian mission and by-laws, and claimed the religious requirement was fundamental to Bay View.
The case against Bay View Association will commence its hearing in court this July.
