Group Home Owners File Federal Suit Against City of New Hope

The city of New Hope is being sued a second time after the city council revoked rental licenses for a pair of group homes.

Documents filed in federal court show that New Hope is facing a lawsuit from two brothers that owned group homes in the city.

The lawsuit accuses New Hope of taking away the brothers’ property rights without just compensation or a condemnation procedure. 

In court documents, the city’s attorney’s have denied these allegations. 

According to city documents, the New Hope City Council met in a closed session to discuss the lawsuit this week.

In 2022, the council revoked the rental licenses for two group homes owned by Sheikh Dukuly and Sekou Dukuly. They operated as Ashton Homes LLC and Berkeley Heights Homes, LLC.

The council cited its rental ordinance, saying there were issues with disorderly conduct at the group homes. They were located in the 3900 block of Wisconsin Avenue and in the 3800 block of Boone Avenue. 

The brothers then filed a housing discrimination lawsuit against the city in 2023. A judge dismissed that case. 

Now, in federal court, the Dukuly brothers claim they were “reasonably compelled to sell the two parcels of real estate at a loss,” according to court documents. “Combined, the two resolutions [approved by the city council revoking their rental licenses] cost the Dukuly brothers $2 million.”

The lawsuit characterizes the revocation of the brothers’ rental licenses as a “regulatory taking” of land, similar to eminent domain.

However, the lawsuit claims this land-take occurred without proper condemnation procedures or just compensation. 

The brothers are asking for “a monetary judgement … in an amount to be determined at trial.” 

Or, in lieu of a trial, they are asking for the city to “institute proper condemnation procedures … for all other relief to which they are entitled.”

New Hope