The sole issue in this appeal, although variously phrased in different objections, is whether the district court properly approved and entered a consent decree terminating the seven-year Arlington Heights exclusionary zoning dispute. We conclude that the court acted properly and affirm.
I
Metropolitan Housing Development Corporation (MHDC), a nonprofit corporation organized for the purpose of developing low- and moderate-income housing throughout the Chicago metropolitan area, and individual plaintiffs brought this action alleging that the refusal of the Village of Arlington Heights to rezone a 15-acre tract of land for multiple-family use was racially discriminatory in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Fair Housing Act of 1968, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq.1
After a bench trial, the district court entered judgment for Arlington Heights, 373 F.Supp. 208 (N.D.Ill.1974). This court reversed, finding that the “ultimate effect” of the denial was racially discriminatory, and that the refusal to rezone therefore violated the Fourteenth Amendment. 517 F.2d 409, 414-15 (7th Cir. 1975).
The Supreme Court reversed, holding that although we had concluded that Arlington Heights’ zoning decision had a racially discriminatory effect, under Washington v. Davis, 426 U.S. 229, 96 S.Ct. 2040, 48 L.Ed.2d 597 (1976), decided after our opinion, a showing of discriminatory intent was a prerequisite to establishing a violation of the Equal Protection Clause. Since we had affirmed the district court’s finding that there was no discriminatory purpose behind the refusal to rezone, the Supreme Court held that the plaintiffs had suffered no deprivation of their constitutional rights. 429 U.S. 252, 97 S.Ct. 555, 50 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977).
*1008The Supreme Court then remanded the case for a determination of whether Arlington Heights’ conduct, although constitutionally unassailable, violated the Fair Housing Act. In our first opinion we had not decided the statutory question because, although plaintiffs’ complaint alleged violation of the Fair Housing Act, they had not pursued the statutory claim either in the district court or before us.
Upon remand, we reaffirmed our earlier holding that the village’s refusal to rezone had a discriminatory effect. In the second opinion we were required to determine whether the refusal to rezone with a discriminatory effect violated the Fair Housing Act although accomplished without discriminatory intent. MHDC had attempted to effectuate, within Arlington Heights, the national policy of integrated housing through development of its own property without any requirement of active village involvement, financial or otherwise. We concluded that although Arlington Heights was acting within its proper state zoning authority, its action had frustrated MHDC’s efforts. 558 F.2d 1283 (7th Cir. 1977).
Upon our remand to the district court, we held that inasmuch as Arlington Heights has a standing obligation under the Fair Housing Act to refrain from perpetuation of zoning policies that effectively foreclose construction of low-cost housing, the district court should require the village to identify a parcel of land within its boundaries which is both properly zoned and suitable for low-cost housing under federal standards. “If defendant fails to satisfy this burden, the district court should conclude that the Village’s refusal to rezone effectively precluded plaintiffs from constructing low-cost housing within Arlington Heights, and should grant plaintiffs the relief they seek.” 558 F.2d at 1295 [footnote omitted]. The Supreme Court denied certiorari in 434 U.S. 1025, 98 S.Ct. 752, 54 L.Ed.2d 772 (1978).
After the case reached the district court on remand, the court called the matter for a status report on March 9, 1978, and was advised by the parties that negotiations for settlement were pending and that the case would probably be resolved by a consent decree. After several other status-report hearings the court was advised on June 1, and on June 22, 1978, that a consent decree had been agreed upon by the parties. On June 30, the Village of Mount Prospect moved to intervene as a defendant in order to object to the entry of the proposed consent decree. 469 F.Supp. 836 at 843.
On July 5, 1978, the Board of Trustees of Arlington Heights held an open meeting to receive public comment on the proposed consent decree, which the Board had previously developed in closed sessions based upon negotiations carried on among the parties’ lawyers. Addressing the Board at the meeting which began at 8:08 p. m. was the Mayor of Mount Prospect, who requested additional time to review the proposed decree inasmuch as it involved property bordering on her village. One of the attorneys representing Mount Prospect addressed the meeting at length. About 30 citizens of Arlington Heights and Mount Prospect spoke, as did representatives of the League of Women Voters, the Northwest Opportunity Center, the Congress of Maine Township Homeowners Association and the Forest View Civic Association. Most of the members of the Board of Trustees also addressed the meeting. By a vote of seven to one, the Board approved the proposed consent decree and the meeting adjourned at 11:04 p. m.
On August 21, 1978, the district court granted Mount Prospect, in its corporate capacity as a representative of its residents, permissive intervention. On August 24, the court allowed Forest View Civic Association and six individuals, all of whom were either property owners or representatives of owners of land north and west of the affected property, to intervene as defendants. On September 18, the Surrey Ridge Homeowners Association, the Heritage Park Community Association, Inc., and three individuals, all owners or representing owners of neighboring land, were given leave to intervene. 469 F.Supp. at 844.
*1009The district court held three days of hearings on September 25, 27 and 29, 1978. Attorneys appeared on behalf of the plaintiffs, Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect, the Forest View Civic Association and the Heritage Park Community Association. The court heard 19 witnesses and the intervenors caused 23 exhibits to be introduced, including 24 photographs introduced under two exhibit numbers. The parties were allowed to file proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law as well as briefs.
On April 2, 1979, District Judge Bua issued his findings of fact, conclusions of law, opinion and order entering the consent decree, which appear in 469 F.Supp. 836-69. The consent decree which he approved appears in 469 F.Supp. 869-73. Judge Bua analyzed the decree as it was proposed, in the light of the objections offered, with such commendable and painstaking detail that we adopt, as well as affirm, his opinion except insofar as this opinion of affirmance may add to or vary its language. Because the objections of the intervenors overlap to a considerable degree and raise broad issues, it is necessary to deal with them to some extent from the viewpoint of overall policies which affect them all.
Intervenor Mount Prospect has raised four objections: (1) the district court did not have jurisdiction or authority to enter the consent decree; (2) the decision of Arlington Heights to approve the consent decree abridged Mount Prospect’s right to procedural due process; (3) Arlington Heights’ approval was procedurally and substantively unlawful; and (4) the district court’s decree “improperly intruded judicial authority into the legislative process.” Intervenor Forest View Civic Association adopted Mount Prospect’s objections and added (5) that the property to be annexed and rezoned was not originally in Arlington Heights but instead adjoins properties of intervenors.
II
The original 15-acre parcel was part of an 80-acre tract just east of the center of Arlington Heights owned by the Clerics of St. Viator, a religious order, whose high school and novitiate building occupied part of the site. All the land surrounding the Viatorian property had been zoned R-3, a single-family specification with relatively small minimum lot-size requirements. On three sides of the Viatorian land there were single-family houses just across a street; to the east the Viatorian property directly adjoined the backyards of other single-family homes. 429 U.S. at 255, 97 S.Ct. at 558.
The plans for the original site called for clustered townhouse units for low- and moderate-income tenants housed in 20 two-story buildings with 190 units, each unit having its own private entrance from the outside. One hundred of the units would have a single bedroom, thought likely to attract elderly citizens. The remaining 90 units would have two, three or four bedrooms. A large portion of the site would remain open, with shrubs and trees to screen the homes abutting the property to the east. 429 U.S. at 254, 257, 97 S.Ct. at 559.
The alternate site provided for in the consent decree consists of 26 acres of vacant property located in an unincorporated area of Cook County between Arlington Heights and the Village of Mount Prospect, presently classified partially C-2 Commercial and partially R-5 Single Family Residence use under the Cook County Zoning Ordinance. Under the terms of the consent decree 14 acres of the property would be developed for commercial use by an independent developer and would include two restaurants. 469 F.Supp. at 843, 870.
The remaining 12-acre parcel would be developed to consist of one four-story building with 109 one-bedroom rental apartments available to elderly persons and one two-bedroom apartment available for the apartment manager. Attached townhouses two-stories high would consist of 20 one-bedroom, 40 two-bedroom and 20 three-bedroom units, all available for family use. 469 F.Supp. at 871.
The total parcel involved is bounded on the north by Lawrence Lane and by Prairie Park, a 10-acre park which is part of the *1010Arlington Heights Park District, on the east by a vacant parcel of land lying north and west of St. Cecilia Catholic Church, on the south by Golf Road, and on the west by Belmont Avenue, extended from its present location adjacent to the western boundary of Prairie Park to Golf Road. 469 F.Supp. at 843. The original site had existing single-family use on three sides and an institutional use on the fourth side. The new site has an institutional use on one side, vacant and park land on one side, a four-lane highway on one side, and some residential use on the fourth side.
The Cook County Comprehensive Plan, which is the county’s long-range projection of land use, recommended that the property fronting along Golf Road be used for commercial purposes and that the remaining portion be used for multiple-family purposes. Tr. 360-61. The single-family classification assigned to part of the property by the Arlington Heights Comprehensive Plan was merely a “holding zone” open for negotiation with a subsequent developer. 469 F.Supp. at 867. Along Golf Road but to the south of the street (the subject property lies to the north of Golf Road) there is a “mirror image” of the consent decree development, employing commercial uses along the road and multiple-family use behind it in a 30-acre planned unit development. Tr. 364.
About 80% of the perimeter of the subject property is currently zoned for single-family residence. However, there was testimony and the district court found that many other land uses are compatible with single-family housing; that all single-family housing cannot be surrounded on all sides by other single-family housing; that the use planned for the subject property follows a natural zoning progression from more intensive to less intensive uses — from arterial road, to commercial use, to multiple-family housing, to single-family housing; that there are many instances of single-family residences adjoining multiple-family units within two miles of the subject property; and that there is other multiple-family housing within 600 feet of the site. 469 F.Supp. at 866.
Ill
In the present posture of this case, there is no longer an issue of the interest of a state or its municipality versus the national interest; the local and national governmental interests are now aligned together against the alleged rights of individual neighboring landowners and of an adjoining village. The changed alignment of interests from that formerly existing requires us to analyze the various interests and the policies they represent in terms of national policies supporting open housing, state and local policies supporting the actions required of Arlington Heights by the consent decree, and the policies supporting the use of consent decrees which effectuate the amalgam of the national and local interests in housing cases such as this.
■ A
Congress has declared in the Fair Housing Act2 that “[i]t is the policy of the United States to provide, within constitutional limitations, for fair housing throughout the United States.” 42 U.S.C. § 3601. Section 3604(a) of the Act provides in part that “it shall be unlawful . . . [t]o make unavailable or deny, a dwelling to any person because of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”
Arlington Heights’ prior refusal to rezone the original site constituted a violation of § 3604(a) “if there is no land other than plaintiffs’ property within Arlington Heights which is both properly zoned and suitable for federally subsidized low-cost housing.” 558 F.2d at 1294. The burden of identifying such a parcel of land within Arlington Heights was placed upon Arlington Heights. By failing to do so and by entering into a consent decree agreeing to annex and rezone property then outside of *1011Arlington Heights, the defendant village in effect conceded that there was no property then within Arlington Heights which was both zoned and suitable for low-cost housing. Absent the consent decree, Arlington Heights was subject to having imposed upon it the relief which the plaintiffs sought.
The language of the Fair Housing Act is “broad and inclusive,” subject to “generous construction,” and “complaints by private persons are the primary method of obtaining compliance with the Act.” Trafficante v. Metropolitan Life Ins. Co., 409 U.S. 205, 209, 212, 93 S.Ct. 364, 366, 34 L.Ed.2d 415 (1972). Generally, and particularly in a fair housing situation, the existence of a federal statutory right implies the existence of all measures necessary and appropriate to protect federal rights and implement federal policies. Sullivan v. Little Hunting Park, Inc., 396 U.S. 229, 239, 90 S.Ct. 400, 405, 24 L.Ed.2d 386 (1969).
The courts of appeals, recognizing these policies, regularly have provided relief from exclusionary zoning (or its equivalent by refusal to permit tying into city’s water and sewer systems through denial of annexation or issuance of permit) under the Fair Housing Act. Kennedy Park Homes Ass’n, Inc. v. City of Lackawanna, 436 F.2d 108 (2d Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 401 U.S. 1010, 91 S.Ct. 1256, 28 L.Ed.2d 546 (1971); United Farmworkers v. City of Delray Beach, 493 F.2d 799 (5th Cir. 1974); United States v. City of Black Jack, 508 F.2d 1179 (8th Cir. 1974), cert. denied, 422 U.S. 1042, 95 S.Ct. 2656, 45 L.Ed.2d 694 (1975); Resident Advisory Board v. Rizzo, 564 F.2d 126 (3d Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 908, 98 S.Ct. 1457, 55 L.Ed.2d 499 (1978).
The relief normally granted by both federal and state courts in exclusionary zoning cases is what has become known as “site-specific relief,” that is, the opening up of a particular parcel to low- or moderate-income multiple housing on a case-by-case basis. Developments in the Law — Zoning, 91 Harv.L.Rev. 1427, 1695-99 (1978). Such relief ordinarily runs counter to local zoning or other local legislation, but given the national open housing policy established by Congress, acting under the Civil War Amendments, the state or local legislation must yield to the paramount national policy. The Supreme Court has left no doubt as to the outcome of such a conflict between local and national interests:
There can be no doubt that this line of cases [Ex parte Virginia, 100 U.S. 339 [25 L.Ed. 676] (1880); South Carolina v. Katzenbach, 383 U.S. 301, 308 [86 S.Ct. 803, 808, 15 L.Ed.2d 769] (1966); Mitchem v. Foster, 407 U.S. 225, 238-39 [92 S.Ct. 2151, 2160, 32 L.Ed.2d 705] (1972)] has sanctioned intrusions by Congress, acting under the Civil War Amendments, into the judicial, executive, and legislative spheres of autonomy previously reserved to the States. The legislation considered in each case was grounded on the expansion of Congress’ powers — with the corresponding diminution of state sovereignty — found to be intended by the Framers and made part of the Constitution upon the States’ ratification of those Amendments .
Fitzpatrick v. Bitzer, 427 U.S. 445, 455-56, 96 S.Ct. 2666, 2671, 49 L.Ed.2d 614 (1976).
B
Local zoning ordinances “find their justification in some aspect of the police power, asserted for the public welfare.” Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., 272 U.S. 365, 387, 47 S.Ct. 114, 118, 71 L.Ed. 303 (1926). The ordinance approved in Euclid provided for the separation of land uses and not for the total exclusion of certain uses by means of land use selection.3 In noting that apartment houses might “come very near to being nuisances” in certain residential areas, the Court also pointed out that “in a different environment [they] would be not only entirely unobjectionable but highly desirable .. . .” Id. at 394-95, 47 S.Ct. at *1012121. The Court went on to hold that “[i]f the validity of the legislative classification for zoning purposes be fairly debatable, the legislative judgment must be allowed to control.” Id. at 388, 47 S.Ct. at 118. Where a landowner attacks a legislative zoning determination on the broad ground that it reduces the value and marketability of his land, in order to prevail he must show that it bears no substantial relation to the public health, safety, morals, or general welfare. Id. at 395, 47 S.Ct. at 121.
The national policy discussed in Part A above establishes that the annexation and rezoning required of Arlington Heights by the consent decree bears a substantial relation to the general welfare.
The authority to zone the subject property belongs exclusively to Arlington Heights and not to Mount Prospect, pursuant to the express terms of a boundary agreement between Mount Prospect and Arlington Heights dated June 21, 1976. 469 F.Supp. at 843 n. 5. Inasmuch as the annexation of the property has already been accomplished, the rezoning will be of property within the boundaries of Arlington Heights.4
Arlington Heights is a home rule municipality5 vested with broad state constitutional powers which include zoning powers. Johnny Bruce Co. v. City of Champaign, 24 Ill.App.3d 900, 321 N.E.2d 469, 471 (1974). Preexisting legislative provisions which limited the authority of municipalities which became home rule units may now be superseded by valid legislative action of a home rule unit. 321 N.E.2d at 472; see also Clarke v. Village of Arlington Heights, 57 Ill.2d 50, 309 N.E.2d 576, 579 (1974). The Board of Trustees of the Village of Arlington Heights in an open meeting where public comment was received, approved the consent decree as a legislative act. The consent decree included the annexation of land not then within the boundaries of Arlington Heights and its rezoning for commercial and multiple-family use for a period of five years.
Illinois courts are in the process of delineating the home rule power of municipalities in various areas on a case-by-case basis, but they have already clearly held that, in addition to the broad state constitutional powers, home rule units have whatever additional powers are granted by the state legislature to non-home rule municipalities. In City of Carbondale v. Van Natta, 61 Ill.2d 483, 338 N.E.2d 19, 23-24 (1975), the Illinois Supreme Court held that although the 1970 constitution did not confer extraterritorial sovereign or governmental powers on home rule units of local government, a home rule municipality possesses the same statutory powers to zone extraterritorially as non-home rule municipalities.6 See also Eru*1013ghoff v. City of Naperville, 68 Ill.2d 352, 12 Ill.Dec. 185, 187, 369 N.E.2d 892, 894 (1977).
The United States Supreme Court recently observed that “[njothing in the Milliken [Milliken v. Bradley, 418 U.S. 717, 94 S.Ct. 3112, 41 L.Ed.2d 1069] decision suggests a per se rule that federal courts lack authority to order parties found to have violated the Constitution to undertake remedial efforts beyond the municipal boundaries of the city where the violation occurred.” Hills v. Gautreaux, 425 U.S. 284, 298, 96 S.Ct. 1538, 1546, 47 L.Ed.2d 792 (1976) [footnote omitted]. Gautreaux approved a metropolitan area remedy in a housing situation where such a remedy “need not displace the rights and powers accorded suburban governmental entities under federal or state law.” Id. at 298 n. 13, 96 S.Ct. at 1546.
The consent decree here does not “displace the rights and powers accorded suburban governmental entities” to effectuate annexation and rezoning, but, with Arlington Heights’ consent and its home rule legislative act, provides “site-specific” relief through judicial process.7
State policy establishes that the annexation and rezoning required of Arlington Heights by the consent decree bear a substantial relation to the general welfare. Illinois courts have considered the need for low-cost multiple dwellings as a factor in approving suitable zoning.8
C
The often diverse interests of national policy and local zoning have merged here in the consent decree, which carries, in addition, its own presumption of regularity and is subject to approval by the trial court after hearing proffered objections.
The law generally favors and encourages settlements. Airline Stewards and Stewardesses Ass’n v. American Airlines, Inc., 573 F.2d 960, 963 (7th Cir. 1978), cert, denied, 439 U.S. 876, 99 S.Ct. 214, 58 L.Ed.2d 190 (1979); Dawson v. Pastrick, 600 F.2d 70, 75 (7th Cir. 1979). Of course, this case involves not only the private plaintiffs, defendants and intervenors, but the public policies outlined above in Parts A and B.9
*1014While the public objectives embodied in the Fair Housing Act warrant a careful review of the consent decree in light of those policies, the clear policy in favor of encouraging settlements must also be considered, particularly in the area where voluntary compliance by the parties over an extended period will contribute significantly toward ultimate achievement of statutory goals. Patterson v. Newspaper and Mail Deliverers’ Union, 514 F.2d 767, 771 (2d Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 427 U.S. 911, 96 S.Ct. 3198, 49 L.Ed.2d 1203 (1976). The resolution of housing disputes by community agreement engenders the crucial community support necessary for their long-range success.10 Williamsburg Fair Housing Committee v. New York City Housing Authority, 450 F.Supp. 602, 606 (S.D.N.Y.1978).
Because of the consensual nature of the decree, voluntary compliance is rendered more likely. In addition, the plaintiffs may have expeditious access to the court for appropriate sanctions if compliance is not forthcoming. United States v. City of Jackson, 519 F.2d 1147, 1152 n. 9 (5th Cir. 1975).11
Courts have held in discriminatory employment cases that Title VII clearly expresses an intent to encourage settlements, Flinn v. FMC Corp., 528 F.2d 1169, 1174 (4th Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 424 U.S. 967, 96 S.Ct. 1462, 47 L.Ed.2d 734 (1976), based upon the authority vested in the court to order affirmative action,12 United States v. Wood, Wire & Metal Lathers International Union, 471 F.2d 408, 413 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 412 U.S. 939, 93 S.Ct. 2773, 37 L.Ed.2d 398 (1973), and the emphasis placed by the act upon voluntary conciliation. Cotton v. Hinton, 559 F.2d 1326, 1331 (5th Cir. 1977).
A similar policy in favor of settlement can be found in the Fair Housing Act. The Act provides that in civil actions the court may “enjoin the respondent from engaging in such practice or order such affirmative action as may be appropriate,” 42 U.S.C. § 3610(d), and provides for voluntary conciliation. 42 U.S.C. §§ 3608(b), 3610(a). Most significantly, the Fair Housing Act provides that “the court shall continue such civil case . from time to time before bringing it to trial if the court believes that the conciliation efforts of the Secretary or a State or local agency are likely to result in satisfactory settlement of the discriminatory housing practice complained of in the complaint . . . .” 42 U.S.C. § 3612(a).
Therefore, in this case under the Fair Housing Act national policy also strongly favors settlement. The trial court in approving a settlement need not inquire into the precise legal rights of the parties nor reach and resolve the merits of the claims or controversy, but need only determine that the settlement is fair, adequate, reasonable and appropriate under the particular facts and that there has been valid consent by the concerned parties. Airline Stewards and Stewardesses Ass’n v. American Airlines, supra, 573 F.2d at 963; Dawson v. Pastrick, supra, 600 F.2d at 75; United States v. City of Jackson, supra, 519 F.2d at 1151. Objectors must be given reasonable notice and their objections heard and considered.
The trial judge permitted the earliest objector to move to intervene on June 30, 1978; intervention was granted to various objectors on August 21 and 24 and September 18; an evidentiary hearing on objections was held for three days, September 25, *101527 and 29, 1978; and the court entered its comprehensive findings, conclusions and opinion on April 2, 1979, after all parties had the opportunity to file briefs and proposed findings and conclusions. 469 F.Supp. 836-73.
The trial judge fulfilled his responsibilities in determining that the settlement embodied in the consent decree was fair, adequate, reasonable and appropriate, and his opinion shows how carefully he analyzed the facts of the case in relation to the relevant principles of applicable law.
Accordingly, when an agreement has been approved by the district court, it will not be reversed on appeal unless there is plain error or an abuse of discretion or if the court acted arbitrarily or failed to satisfy itself that the settlement was equitable and in the public interest. Dawson v. Pastrick, supra, 600 F.2d at 75; Cotton v. Hinton, supra, 559 F.2d at 1331; Patterson v. Newspaper and Mail Deliverers’ Union, supra, 514 F.2d at 771.
IV
Most of the intervenors’ objections are encompassed in Part III. The intervenors also complain that a finding of a constitutional or statutory violation was a necessary predicate to the entry of a consent decree.
The Supreme Court upheld the validity of a consent decree entered under the Sherman and Clayton Anti-Trust Acts against arguments that the courts lacked jurisdiction because there was no case or controversy and because the consent decree was entered without the support of facts, saying in Swift & Co. v. United States, 276 U.S. 811, 327, 48 S.Ct. 311, 315, 72 L.Ed. 587 (1928):
The argument is that jurisdiction under the Anti-Trust Acts cannot be conferred by consent; that jurisdiction can exist only if the transactions complained of are in fact violations of the Act; that merely to allege facts showing violation of the anti-trust laws is not sufficient; that the facts must also be established according to the regular course of chancery procedure; that this requires either admission or proof; and that, here, there was no admission but, on the contrary, a denial of the allegations of the bill, and a recital in the decree that the defendants maintain the truth of their answers, assert their innocence, and consent to the entry of the decree without any finding of fact, only upon condition that their consent shall not constitute or be considered an admission. The argument ignores both the nature of injunctions, already discussed, and the legal implications of a consent decree. The allegations of the bill not specifically denied may have afforded ample basis for a decree limited to future acts.
The intervenors also claim that the procedures leading to the approval of the consent decree deprived them of due process. Assuming that some due process applies, the question is what process is due. Due process is flexible and calls for such procedural protections as the particular situation demands. Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 481, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 2600, 33 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972). The weighing and analysis of the many interests involved in this case against the private interests of the intervenors, Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 96 S.Ct. 893, 47 L.Ed.2d 18 (1976), confirms the district court’s conclusion that the intervenors received all the process that was due.
The district court has adequately considered the intervenors’ other objections. 469 F.Supp. 836. We affirm the court’s judgment approving the consent decree.
. The Supreme Court has passed upon the standing of the plaintiffs, holding that “[cjlearly MHDC has met the constitutional requirements, and it therefore has standing to assert its own rights” insofar as “irrational zoning actions” are concerned. Village of Arlington Heights v. Metropolitan Housing Development Corp., 429 U.S. 252, 263, 97 S.Ct. 555, 562, 50 L.Ed.2d 450 (1977). However, insofar as the case involves racial discrimination, MHDC has no racial identity, but the Court was not required to pursue the implications of that fact inasmuch as one of the individual plaintiffs, Ransom, is black and is employed in Arlington Heights. Therefore an “ ‘actionable causal relationship’ ” exists between Arlington Heights’ zoning practices and his asserted injury. Id. at 264, 97 S.Ct. at 562.
. The Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. § 3601 et seq., was enacted as Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968.
. Nor did Village of Belle Terre v. Boraas, 416 U.S. 1, 94 S.Ct. 1536, 39 L.Ed.2d 797 (1974) approve exclusionary zoning. Developments in the Law — Zoning, 91 Harv.L.Rev. 1427, 1628-29 n. 19 (1978).
. Illinois statutes provide that “[t]he corporate authorities of any municipality may enter into an agreement with one or more of the owners of record of land in any territory which may be annexed to such municipality as provided in Article 7 such agreement to be valid and binding for a period of not to exceed 10 years from the date of execution thereof’ and this statute “is not a limit upon any municipality which is a home rule unit.’’ Ill.Rev.Stats. c. 24, § 11-15.-1-1 [emphasis supplied]. The agreement contained in the consent decree is binding for only 5 years.
. Ill.Const.1970, Art. VII, § 6(a): “any municipality which has a population of more than 25,000 [is a] home rule [unit].” Arlington Heights has a population exceeding 64,000. 558 F.2d at 1286.
Except as limited expressly by the state constitution (which does not include any zoning restrictions), “a home rule unit may exercise any power and perform any function pertaining to its government and affairs including, but not limited to, the power to regulate for the protection of the public health, safety, morals and welfare . . .” IIl.Const.1970, Art. VII, § 6(a). The state constitution further provides that “Powers and functions of home rule units shall be construed liberally.” Art. VII, § 6(m). The constitution conferred upon home rule units “a grant of authority which probably was the broadest in the nation” and established “a new presumption in favor of municipal and county rule.” Carlson v. Briceland, 61 Ill. App.3d 120, 18 Ill.Dec. 502, 504, 377 N.E.2d 1138, 1140 (1978).
See also Cain v. American Nat. Bank, 26 Ill.App.3d 574, 325 N.E.2d 799, 805 (1975).
. Non-home rule municipalities in Illinois may exercise such zoning powers as classification, regulation and allocation of uses “within the corporate limits or within contiguous territory not more than one and one-half miles beyond the corporate limits and not included within *1013any municipality.” Ill.Rev.Stats. c. 24, § 11—13-1. One and one-half miles equal 7,920 feet. The subject property is contiguous, is not included within any other municipality, and is within 1,200 feet of the boundary of Arlington Heights. Tr. 21.
. Intervenors rely heavily on the intermediate appellate court decision in Illinois, Martin v. City of Greenville, 54 Ill.App.3d 42, 12 Ill.Dec. 46, 369 N.E.2d 543 (1977), where the court reversed a consent decree enforcing a settlement in a case (1) where it was “not completely clear” that the city council formally approved the settlement; (2) where a non-home rule municipality was involved; and (3) where Fair Housing Act violations were not involved.
. Lakeland Bluff, Inc. v. County of Will, 114 Ill.App.2d 267, 252 N.E.2d 765 (1969) (need for low-cost housing justified mobile home zoning); Chicago Title & Trust Co. v. Village of Skokie, 61 Ill.App.3d 219, 18 Ill.Dec. 617, 377 N.E.2d 1253 (1978) (demand for apartments justified suitable zoning).
The minutes of the Arlington Heights Board of Trustees’ meeting of July 5, 1978, which are part of the record here, state: “President Ryan responded that there are over 162 people locally that did not get into the senior citizen housing project and that there is an actual demon-strafed need for senior housing.” Minutes, at p. 8.
. The Supreme Court set forth some of the basic standards for assessing consent decrees in United States v. Armour & Co., 402 U.S. 673, 681-82, 91 S.Ct. 1752, 1757, 29 L.Ed.2d 256 (1971):
Consent decrees are entered into by parties to a case after careful negotiation has produced agreement on their precise terms. The parties waive their right to litigate the issues involved in the case and thus save themselves the time, expense, and inevitable risk of litigation. Naturally, the agreement reached normally embodies a compromise; in exchange for the saving of cost and elimination of risk, the parties each give up something they might have won had they proceeded with the litigation. Thus the decree itself cannot be said to have a purpose; rather the parties have purposes, generally opposed to each other, and the resultant decree embodies as much of those opposing purposes as the respective parties have the bargaining power and skill to achieve. For these reasons, the scope of a consent decree must be discerned within its four corners, and not by reference to what might satisfy the purposes of one of the parties to it. Because the defendant has, by the decree, waived his right *1014to litigate the issues raised, a right guaranteed to him by the Due Process Clause, the conditions upon which he has given that waiver must be respected, and the instrument must be construed as it is written, and not as it might have been written had the plaintiff established his factual claims and legal theories in litigation.
. Settlements also contribute greatly to the efficient utilization of scarce federal judicial resources. Cotton v. Hinton, 559 F.2d 1326, 1331 (5th Cir. 1977).
. Defendants minimize costly litigation and adverse publicity and avoid the collateral effects of adjudicated guilt. Id.
. In civil actions by aggrieved parties under Title VII the courts are empowered to “order such affirmative action as may be appropriate.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(g).