[blindlaw] blindlaw Digest Response to question about accommodation in housing.

[Kathryn Carroll]

Hi,

The DOJ offers this on the Fair Housing Act:

6. What is a "reasonable accommodation" for purposes of the Act?

A "reasonable accommodation" is a change, exception, or adjustment to a rule, policy, practice, or service that may be necessary for a person with a disability to have an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling, including public and common use spaces. Since rules, policies, practices, and services may have a different effect on persons with disabilities than on other persons, treating persons with disabilities exactly the same as others will sometimes deny them an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling. The Act makes it unlawful to refuse to make reasonable accommodations to rules, policies, practices, or services when such accommodations may be necessary to afford persons with disabilities an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.

To show that a requested accommodation may be necessary, there must be an identifiable relationship, or nexus, between the requested accommodation and the individual's disability.

Example 1: A housing provider has a policy of providing unassigned parking spaces to residents. A resident with a mobility impairment, who is substantially limited in her ability to walk, requests an assigned accessible parking space close to the entrance to her unit as a reasonable accommodation. There are available parking spaces near the entrance to her unit that are accessible, but those spaces are available to all residents on a first come, first served basis. The provider must make an exception to its policy of not providing assigned parking spaces to accommodate this resident.

Example 2: A housing provider has a policy of requiring tenants to come to the rental office in person to pay their rent. A tenant has a mental disability that makes her afraid to leave her unit. Because of her disability, she requests that she be permitted to have a friend mail her rent payment to the rental office as a reasonable accommodation. The provider must make an exception to its payment policy to accommodate this tenant.

Example 3: A housing provider has a "no pets" policy. A tenant who is deaf requests that the provider allow him to keep a dog in his unit as a reasonable accommodation. The tenant explains that the dog is an assistance animal that will alert him to several sounds, including knocks at the door, sounding of the smoke detector, the telephone ringing, and cars coming into the driveway. The housing provider must make an exception to its "no pets" policy to accommodate this tenant.

(Source: http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/hce/jointstatement_ra.php)

Kathryn Carroll
On Oct 5, 2013, at 8:00 AM, blindlaw-request at nfbnet.org wrote:

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> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 4 Oct 2013 15:19:25 -0400
> From: wmodnl wmodnl <wmodnl at hotmail.com>
> To: "blindlaw at nfbnet.org" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: [blindlaw] Question:
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> Good afternoon,
> What constitutes reasonable accommodation as it pertains to housing?
> Thank you, have a good day and weekend.
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> Sent from my iPad
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