Fair Housing Help: Drug and Alcohol Addictions as Disabilities

If you're an apartment hunter and either you're an alcoholic or you have a drug addiction, you may be concerned that this will cause you problems in your search. If you're a landlord, you might wonder whether you can reject someone's apartment application simply because that person is addicted to alcohol or drugs.

The short answer is that landlords can't reject applicants for this reason because addictions are considered disabilities—but that's not the end of the story.

Check out my summary of what you need to know about fair housing law and prospects with a drug or alcohol addiction.

Does a Ban on Sober Houses Violate the Fair Housing Act?

That's a question that may soon be litigated in Florida courts. Yesterday, the commissioners of Delray Beach, Florida unanimously voted to pass four ordinances that effectively ban sober houses and other transient rental homes from having a place within single-family communities.

The city's mayor insisted that the move was aimed solely at preventing "unscrupulous and profit-mongering landlords" from operating in their city, according to the Palm Beach Post. But others say the real motive is to help Delray Beach shed its image as the "recovery capital of the world," and the Post noted that residents have complained about added noise and crime from the presence of so many sober houses.

Should the new ordinances banning sober houses in Delray Beach stand? Or, given that the Fair Housing Act's (FHA) ban on disability-based discrimination includes protections for people who have an addiction to drugs and alcohol, should these ordinances be overturned?

What do you think?