[nabs-l] Suit: Ban on service animals violates Fair Housing Act.

[Sarah alawami]

http://www.newsday.
<http://www.newsday.com/columnists/other-columnists/suit-lindenhurst->
com/columnists/other-columnists/suit-lindenhurst-
apartments-unlawfully-ban-service-animals-1.1436217Suit: Ban on
service animals violates Fair Housing Act.

A Lindenhurst apartment complex has violated the Fair Housing Act by 
excluding disabled people with service animals from renting, the federal 
government charged in a lawsuit released Thursday.

On three separate occasions, according to the federal complaint, fair 
housing investigators from Long Island Housing Services in Bohemia posing 
as would-be renters were rejected when they told managers at Sunrise 
Villas in Lindenhurst they needed service dogs.

In one case, the investigator said a dog was needed to help with a 
diabetic condition, and in another an epileptic condition was cited.

"On each occasion, the testers were told that the development had a strict 
'no pets' rule and that the complex would not rent to individuals with 
service animals," the government said.

Sunrise Villas, a 100-unit complex on Leonard Court, is owned by Sunrise 
Villas Llc. The lawsuit also names the manager and assistant manager as 
defendants. Two messages left at the complex seeking comment were not 
returned, and a lawyer for Sunrise Villas also did not return two calls.

Under federal law, landlords are required to make "accommodations" for the 
disabled. Sunrise managers, according to the lawsuit, told one of the test 
applicants they would permit guide dogs for the blind, but no other 
service animals.

Trained service dogs can provide early warnings to diabetics and 
epileptics that allow them to take medication or seek help, said Michelle 
Sanantonio, director of Long Island Housing Services, the fair housing 
advocacy group that developed the case.

She said federal law also recognizes chronic depression as a disability 
that can require apartments to permit a service animal. "There is a greater 
acceptance of blindness as a disability requiring a service animal," she 
said. "But there are a wide array of other
conditions that can benefit from a service animal."

The testing at Sunrise was prompted by a complaint by a disabled applicant 
who was denied housing, Sanantonio said. She said "no-pets" discrimination 
against the disabled was "widespread" on Long Island. The federal lawsuit 
announced by Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell seeks an injunction 
requiring the complex to alter its
practices, damages for persons who were the victims of discrimination, and 
civil penalties.

"Persons with disabilities are entitled to the protections of the Fair 
Housing Act," said Campbell in a statement. "This includes the right of 
individuals who require service animals to be able to rent apartments in 
the same manner as individuals without disabilities."

"All knowledge, the totality of all questions and answers, is contained in 
the dog." - Franz Kafka - Investigations of the dog.