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Overview

There are civil rights laws, generally referred collectively as fair housing, on federal and state levels as well as local ordinances that cover equal opportunity and access to housing for protected classes. A ‘protected class’ is a category of individuals who historically have been denied full access to resources such as housing. Persons with disabilities have been designated as a protected housing class under the federal Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 (FHAA), Sec. 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Rehab Act) and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Many states, municipalities and counties have designated persons with disabilities as a protected class within their laws or ordinances.

Purpose

The purpose of fair housing for persons with disabilities is to provide both access to housing opportunities and mandatory baselines of architectural accessibility. Access to housing opportunities would cover eligibility criteria to rental properties, mortgages and home buying. As long as the person with the disability is financially eligible, they cannot be denied the opportunity to apply for housing and mortgages, cannot be barred form full participation in all housing activities and cannot be restricted to a particular type of housing or to a specific geographic region.

Fair housing laws and ordinances guarantee that a baseline of physical accessibility be provided to allow persons with disabilities to inhabit dwelling units. Depending on which fair housing law or ordinance, this physical accessibility can be mandated at the time of design and construction based on occupancy and/or conditionally on degree of housing rehabilitation.

Scoping and Coverage

“Scoping” and coverage will also vary. Scoping defines the circumstances in which the law applies. Scoping and coverage establish what type of housing, number of units, number of covered units and relevant date specifications that will trigger compliance for that specific fair housing law. For example:

  • Fair Housing Amendments Act (FHAA) scoping and coverage states that only multi-family dwelling units of 4 or more, first occupied after 3/13/91 will be covered.
  • Sec. 504 of the Rehab Act will only cover directly subsidized housing of 15 or more units.
  • The ADA will only cover housing units built strictly with state or local funds.

Technical Specifications

In addition to varying scoping and coverage requirements, fair housing laws use different technical specifications. Technical specifications are the detailed requirements of how the physical accessibility will be met. For example, the FHAA uses 8 different “Safe Harbors” as technical specifications. Sec. 504 and the ADA use the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standard (UFAS) as its technical specification. Many states have developed accessibility scoping/coverage and technical specifications under their building codes.

Reasonable Accomodations and Modifications

Other valuable components under fair housing laws and ordinances are the Reasonable Accommodation and Reasonable Modification provisions. The extent of protection and conditions of these provisions will vary by federal/ state laws and local ordinance.

Reasonable Accomodation

A reasonable accommodation is a request to waive or change policies, practices, procedures or services to allow greater accessibility and use of the premises by a person with a disability. Reasonable accommodations could mean allowing an assistive animal in a no-pets building, constructing additional handicap parking spaces or relocating a tenant to a more accessible unit. A reasonable accommodation can only be denied if it causes an undue administrative/financial burden or changes the basic nature of the program.

Reasonable Modification

A reasonable modification is a physical alteration to the unit or residential common use area to allow greater accessibility and use of the building by a person with a disability. Responsibility for payment for the reasonable modification will depend on which fair housing law or ordinance offers the higher standard of accessibility. Some states mandate that property owners assume all costs for the reasonable modification depending on the number of units in the building or development. Sec. 504 and the ADA mandate that the property owner assumes the costs. FHAA mandates that the costs for a reasonable modification lie with the resident making the request.

If a person with a disability feels that their rights have been violated they can file a fair housing complaint. Most states have a civil rights agency designated to investigate and enforce state fair housing law. Oftentimes this is the state Office of the Attorney General.

Some municipalities have local fair housing commissions that investigate and enforce their ordinances. Those offices would be listed in the government section of your telephone directory. On a federal level, HUD has the authority to investigate and enforce FHAA and Sec. 504 of the Rehab Act. HUD does this through their regional Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity office (FHEO) or through their network of Fair Housing Assistance Programs (FHAPS).

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