Foreclosure ends Medford's sober house battle

By Christine McConville

Medford’s long-running battle with a “sober house” has ended in an unexpected way - foreclosure.

The embattled property owner lost the home because he didn’t pay his mortgage, Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn said yesterday.

Medford officials say the foreclosure will bring an end to a city lawsuit, as well as a federal probe into allegations of discrimination by Medford.

“There’s less stress in a lot of circles, now that they have moved on,” McGlynn said.

The battle began after William Maragioglio bought a four-bedroom home for $429,900 on a quiet side street in Medford last March and began renting out beds to recovering drug addicts.

Critics said Maragioglio, of Malden, was exploiting a loophole in federal laws to run a rooming house. That’s a complaint heard about sober houses in other communities across the state.

Most communities limit the number of unrelated people who may lawfully share a home - but sober houses, where sober alcoholics and recovering drug addicts live together without supervision - don’t fall in that category because recovering addicts are deemed disabled by the federal government.

When disabled people request reasonable accommodations, these must be provided. Denying them is discrimination, according to federal fair-housing laws.

After Maragioglio bought the home, a utility worker told neighbors that rows of bunk beds were being set up in the basement.

City officials found nine or 10 unrelated men living there, even though Medford only allows four unrelated people to share a home.

Maragioglio’s lawyer Bruce MacDonald could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Last May the city told Maragioglio six recovering addicts could live in the house, as long as Maragioglio could prove his claim that convicted sex offenders and arsonists were not allowed.

When Maragioglio refused, city officials took steps to file a criminal complaint against him. Maragioglio countered by accusing the city of discrimination, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development launched a probe.

Then, suddenly, it was all over.

Medford city lawyer Mark Rumley said MacDonald called to say the bank had foreclosed on Maragioglio, and the tenants were gone. MacDonald told him that he planned to get the federal case against Medford dismissed.

 

 

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