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A woman living in Meridian, Idaho, who was forced out of her new 252-square-foot mobile home a day after moving into it has filed suit, claiming not only that she was deprived of her home amid a rapidly accelerating housing crisis but that her freedom of speech was violated after she faced alleged retaliation by city authorities for speaking out, according to a new report.

Chasidy Decker purchased the mobile home because she could not afford to buy a house, and arranged for it to be located on Robert Calacal’s land at a cost of $600 per month. After Decker moved into the home in June 2022, however, a neighbor alerted the Meridian Police Department to the new structure, inquiring whether it was legal for Decker to reside in it.

A city code enforcement officer then told Decker and Calacal they could face fines of $1,000 per day and criminal prosecution if she did not move out because the city has a ban on living in mobile homes unless they’re parked in an RV park.

Decker and Calacal are suing the city of Meridian because its action against Decker left her unhoused and because Decker’s free speech was violated through an act of retaliation by code enforcement officers after Decker spoke out in a newspaper article, a blog post from the Institute for Justice states. Since Aug. 1, Decker has been staying at a friend’s house in Meridian.

The city of Meridian permits trailers and recreational vehicles to be parked in residential neighborhoods, but residents are not allowed to live in them.

The Institute for Justice is a non-profit public interest law firm that files constitutional cases in state and federal courts and is representing Decker and Calacal in the case. The lawsuit filed against Meridian brings five claims against the city’s ban and how it violates the Idaho constitution.

The lawsuit also brings a free speech claim forward based on retaliation Decker and Calacal allegedly faced from the Meridian code enforcement officer.

The median home price peaked in Ada County in May 2022 at $602,250, according to a market report released by Boise Regional Realtors at the beginning of November.

In October, the median sales price was $561,500, up 4.0 percent from the previous month and up 5.4 percent year over year. In previous months, the county saw consistent month-over-month declines in median home price since its peak in May.

Home prices in Boise are now approximately 70 percent higher than what the median household income of the city’s residents can afford, according to Oxford Economics.

Email Lillian Dickerson

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