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A brief breakdown of recent fair housing rulings. By
ANNE SADOVSKY, CAM, CAPS, NAAEI Advanced Facilitator, professional speaker and consultant
An Update on Fair Housing
T
he majority of people who work in the apartment business are clear on the Fair Housing Act’s protected classes. We have learned about the stiff penalties for discrimination, in fair housing-focused classes and seminars. When new rulings or decisions arise, there can be misunderstandings or confusion. Misunderstanding a new guidance, ruling or law could have expensive results. Right now, some of the apartment industry’s biggest concerns are below. Please note, I am not an attorney and this article does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. This article is for general informational purposes only. Reasonable Accommodations to Assistance Animals New guidance issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development clarifies how apartment professionals can comply with the Fair Housing Act when assessing an applicant’s or resident’s request to have an animal that provides assistance because of a disability. Several states have cracked down on sham documentation, that sometimes include the request of parking in a handicapped parking. HUD has taken action against online companies that profit from selling fake assistance animal documents. Housing providers have the right to request reliable documentation when the disability or disability-related need is not obvious, visible nor apparent. You may use www.haaonline.org
the term physician or doctor in your request for documentation to assess a resident’s request for reasonable accommodation. It would be wise to create and offer a standard request form and a maintained list of reasonable accommodation requests. Reliable documentation could be a note or letter from the person’s health care professional that confirms the person’s disability and/or need for an assistance animal. As a reminder, service animal breed restrictions do not apply as they might pertain to pets. A service or assistance animal is not a pet, therefore, pet fees nor rent are required. Also, the resident may require accommodation for more than one assistance animal if he or she has more than one disability. Emotional support animals are also assistance animals. Other animals that do work, perform tasks, provide assistance or provide therapeutic emotional support for individuals with disabilities should be treated as assistance animals. If the person has an obvious or known disability or if the animal has proper documentation, a reasonable accommodation should be granted. You can expect dogs, cats, small birds, rabbits, gerbils, fish and turtles. Medical Marijuana Another hot topic is medical marijuana. Days before press time, Kentucky joined the 33 other states, along with the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, that have approved a comprehensive, publicly available medical mar-
ijuana/cannabis program. With strict cannabis laws and Republican-controlled leadership here in Texas, I highly doubt the state will step up to legalize cannabis, however, voters can sometimes take things into their own hands. Even if our state does approve medical marijuana, you, as a housing provider, may still be able to disallow any form of smoking in apartment homes. Parking and Fair Housing High occupancy has created parking issues in many communities. Many gardenstyle properties did not build enough parking spaces. Texans have cars and are not big users of mass transit. Adding to the situation, increased rents often create more roommate situations. Six roommates occupying a three-bedroom apartment home requesting six parking spots could be a big challenge. Unless your city states otherwise, you might limit the number of vehicles per apartment. This is, however, hard to govern, unless you implement parking stickers or a policy/agreement that registers license plate numbers with a towing company. Due to the aging population, requests for handicap spaces are overwhelming. There is no such thing as a reserved handicapped parking space. Anyone with a handicapped permit can park in any handicap space. A reserved space should be identified by a sign that issues a permit number on the reserved spot. Do not use the word handicapped or blue paint. Document all requests and the action taken.
April 2020
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