Today’s press release concerning HUD’s Fair Housing Initiative Program (“FHIP”) says all you need to know about HUD’s approach to eliminating housing discrimination. Out of more than $37 million dollars made available to improve fair housing in this program, HUD is spending about 20% on programs intended to educate the public and business about their rights and obligations, while 80% goes to funding private organizations that are in the business of either suing folks or filing HUD complaints. HUD is clearly much less interested in helping people obey the law than in punishing people who fail to obey it. The press release ends, of course, with information on how to file a complaint with HUD. There’s no mention of where to go for education on following the law. More
FHA
Big time problems with FHA compliance: how do things go so wrong?
By Richard Hunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, ADA FHA General, ADA FHA Litigation General, Apartments, Building Codes, FHA, Multi-Family Tags: Consent Decree, Construction, Department of Justice, DOJ, FHA
The Department of Justice announced in late July a settlement with a substantial multi-family developer in West Virginia that had managed over a decade or so to construct 23 apartment complexes that did not comply with the accessibility requirements of the Fair Housing Act (see the DOJ press release here). In addition to remediation costs, which appear to be substantial, the developer will pay $205,000 in damages and penalties and construct new accessible units. Like most FHA cases, it is a big deal.
One of my fellow bloggers has helpfully suggested that if the DOJ investigates a situation like this you need a lawyer “like me.” What developers “like you” really need is not to be investigated in the first place, and if investigated to not be liable. You can find a link to the consent decree in the DOJ press release, and the problems it lists are the same problems that appear over and over again in FHA lawsuits. Lawyers didn’t cause them, and lawyers really can’t prevent them. Developers, however, can. More
Special treatment in the name of equality – understanding the ADA and FHA reasonable accommodation provisions
By Richard Hunt in ADA, ADA FHA General, ADA Policies, Building Codes, FHA Tags: ADA, affirmative action, disability, Discrimination, FHA, reasonable accommodation
One of the hardest things for ordinary people to understand about the ADA and FHA is that these statutes, which supposedly forbid discrimination, make it unlawful to treat everyone equally. To avoid “discrimination” under the disability related provisions of these laws businesses must give special treatment to those with disabilities. More
Unconventional wisdom concerning pet deposits under the Fair Housing Act.
By richardhunt in Accessibility Litigation Trends, ADA FHA General, ADA FHA Litigation General, FHA Tags: FHA, FHA Litigation, Pets, service animals, support animals, therapy animals
One common bit of conventional wisdom under the FHA is that apartments and other housing providers cannot require a pet deposit for an assistance animal or service animal. This is certainly the position of HUD and the DOJ. (See, HUD memo dated April 25, 2013 and see http://www.ada.gov/qasrvc.htm). The position is based on the notion that because a disabled person is required to have a service animal it is discriminatory to require anything of such a person that would not be required of a person without a disability who had no pet. See Intermountain Fair Hous. Council v. CVE Falls Park, L.L.C., 2011 WL 2945824 (D. Idaho 2011). The question of whether it indeed violates the FHA to require what would be more rationally called an “animal damage deposit” is really more nuanced than this. More