Judge dismisses suit against Woonsocket

WOONSOCKET, R.I.—A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit against Woonsocket by a man who claimed the city fraudulently obtained $15 million in grants by failing to disclose its alleged anti-affordable housing agenda to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

A U.S. District Court judge granted the city’s motion to dismiss the case on technical grounds, saying plaintiff Gordon Ondis had no standing to pursue the matter.

Ondis argued that because the city was opposed to the spread of subsidized housing in the city that it had fraudulently obtained millions in Community Development Block Grants and related funds from HUD since 2000.

Mayor Susan Menard called the suit “obviously ridiculous,“ adding that the city still spent $75,000 for its defense.