Hartford, CT says friends can't room together unless some of them are servants

Cory Doctorow 8:07 pm Fri Mar 6, 2015

Eric writes, "In Hartford, eight adults and three children live in a 6,000-square-foot, nine-bedroom brick mansion –they're longtime friends who pooled money into one bank account, share monthly expenses, take turns cooking dinner and cleaning and consider themselves a family.

But the city council has decided otherwise by upholding a zoning board decision. The city's decades-old zoning code for single family-homes allows for no more than two individuals to live together if they are not related by blood, marriage, civil union or adoption. However, an unlimited number of "live in domestic servants" are allowed to live in the household.

The family is currently raising money to cover their legal expenses on Indiegogo.

Hartford Upholds Action Against Scarborough Street Family
[Steven Goode/Courant]

(Image: Stephen Dunn)

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