Retirement Community Accused of Penalizing Renters for Needing Motorized Wheelchairs

A Virginia retirement community has been hit with a fair housing complaint for allegedly violating the Fair Housing Act's (FHA) ban on discrimination based on disability.

According to a press release issued Wednesday by Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia, Inc. (HOME), the organization filing the complaint, The Towers Retirement Community in Richmond unfairly and illegally places substantial burdens on renters who need to use a motorized wheelchair in connection with a disability.

Specifically, HOME claims that the community requires renters to commit to an additional $1,500 security deposit as well as obtain liability insurance for motorized wheelchairs, essentially making such renters pay for having a disability. Also, renters who use motorized mobility devices are apparently barred from using the community's transportation services—even though they're reportedly required to pay a monthly transportation fee as part of their monthly rent. In addition, HOME alleges that the community requires renters wishing to use a motorized wheelchair to get their disability assessed by the community's staff.

You can access a copy of the HOME press release (issued February 5, 2014) here.

Fair Housing Help: Apartment Hunting With a Disability

An apartment search can be a challenge for people with disabilities. For example, if you have a physical impairment, you might need an apartment that has special features, and you don't want to waste time reviewing listings or visiting buildings that don't meet your requirements.

Also, the Fair Housing Act (FHA) protects apartment hunters with disabilities against discrimination, so it's important that apartment hunters with disabilities become familiar with their rights before they even begin their search.

Here's a handy recap I put together of helpful information to be aware of if you're apartment hunting with a disability. Landlords may also want to review it to help ensure compliance with the FHA.

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.

Fair Housing Help: Disability Rights With No Disability?

Did you know that the Fair Housing Act's (FHA) ban against disability-based discrimination applies to some people who don't have a disability? Prospects and tenants who used to have a disability and even some who never had a disability may be protected, too.

I've identified three main types of situations where renters may be protected against disability discrimination even if they don't have a disability.

Fair Housing Help: Making Reasonable Accommodation Requests

The Fair Housing Act (FHA) requires landlords to grant prospects and tenants reasonable accommodations that are needed for a disability. Although this may seem straightforward, renters and landlords alike often get confused about the procedure as well as what each party's expectations should be.

To help clear up confusion, I've put together a summary of what you need to know about reasonable accommodation requests under the FHA.

Fair Housing Help: Rights for Renters With Disabilities

Compliance with disability-based housing discrimination rules under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) isn't obvious or just a matter of common sense. There are certain things landlords must and mustn't do when dealing with prospects and tenants who have a disability.

Here's a handy summary of landlords' obligations to renters with disabilities under the FHA.

Fair Housing Help: Finding an Accessible Apartment

If you've got a physical disability and need an apartment that offers accessible features, take advantage of Web resources so you can run an efficient search and get a rental that meets your needs.

I've outlined how to do this in my article, "How to Find an Accessible Apartment Online."

Fair Housing Help: Who Makes Decisions When Apartment Hunting With a Disability?

One way that landlords commonly get into fair housing trouble is by making assumptions about a prospective tenant's housing needs based on their perception of the person's apparent disability. (See, for example, my post entitled, "Paying Dearly for Fair Housing Violations, Despite Good Intentions," October 9, 2009.)

If you're looking for an apartment with a disability or you're a landlord who encounters prospects whom you believe or know have a disability, remember that when it comes to wants and needs, the apartment hunters are the decision-makers—whether or not they have a disability.

Fair Housing Help: What's a 'Qualifying Disability'?

Many people know that federal fair housing law protects prospects and tenants against discrimination based on disability. But what the Fair Housing Act (FHA) considers to be a disability may surprise you by being broader or narrower than you think.

People who have a disability that fits the FHA's definition have the right to some important protections against discrimination. Tenants and landlords alike should check out this summary of the characteristics of a qualifying disability under the FHA.

LANDMARK: Reasonable Accommodation Denial Leads to Record Settlement

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Monday that it has obtained the largest-ever settlement in connection with an individual housing discrimination case. The $1.25 million agreement with an Alabama property management company stems from a tenant's request for a reasonable accommodation, which the company allegedly denied.

What's interesting about this case is how a single denial of an accommodation request could wind up costing a management company so dearly. The reason? The tenant allegedly suffered severe damages as a direct result of the denial.

According to the first amended complaint filed March 17, 2009, the tenant requested to rent a ground-floor apartment in the 196-unit Mobile, Alabama non-elevator building to accommodate a physical disability. Although he needed to use full-length leg braces and crutches on account of paraplegia, he was offered an apartment on the second floor with the understanding that he would soon be transferred to a ground-floor unit. In the meantime, the apartment's small size meant the tenant had to keep his physical therapy equipment in storage on the ground floor.

Despite several follow-up requests and apparent promises, the company didn't allow the tenant to transfer to the ground floor, at one point citing a new rule barring all transfers, according to the complaint.

In November 2007, the tenant fell down the stairs from his second-floor apartment, requiring surgery and the need for a wheelchair.

Without admitting liability or wrongdoing, the company agreed Monday to pay $1,195,000 in monetary damages to the tenant, plus $55,000 in fees and costs to the federal government for the alleged Fair Housing Act violation based on disability.

In addition to the record monetary award and penalty, the consent decree requires the company to obtain fair housing training for employees and monitor their compliance, maintain non-discriminatory practices and procedures, and appoint an employee as "Reasonable Accommodation Facilitator," charged with managing all new requests at the more than 11,000 units in 85 properties across 15 states that the company manages.

Given the facts, do you think this settlement is fair? Do you believe landlords and property management companies need to become more aware of how the law protects people with disabilities?

What do you think?

Remembering Why Accessible Apartments Are Accessible

It sounds like a reasonable rule for an apartment complex that offers some accessible apartments: Let tenants without disabilities rent an accessible apartment, but have them agree to move if a tenant with a disability should need the apartment as an accommodation.

One lawsuit and an undisclosed financial settlement later, that's the rule that a federally assisted complex in Henrietta, New York has agreed to adopt, according to the Democrat and Chronicle. The lawsuit was brought by a former tenant who, as a paraplegic, was promised one of the complex's six accessible apartments but then told there's a three-year waiting list. The accessible apartments featured wider doors and other amenities aimed at helping people who use wheelchairs navigate the apartment and use kitchen counters. However, all six such apartments were reportedly occupied by tenants who didn't need them, while the one who did struggled in a nonaccessible apartment.

Making sure that accessible apartments get used by the very people for whom they were intended makes sense, don't you think?

Assisted Living Facility Needs Assistance with Motorized Wheelchair Policy

The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a fair housing complaint against the owners and operators of a 58-unit Evansville, Indiana independent and assisted senior living facility, on behalf of two tenants who were evicted for their motorized wheelchair use. The complaint, filed November 7, 2008, alleges that the facility's policy of refusing to let tenants use motorized wheelchairs or scooters in their apartments or in the facility's dining room violates the Fair Housing Act's ban on disability discrimination.

In one alleged instance, when one of the evicted tenants arrived at the dining room on his motorized wheelchair, facility employees reminded him of the policy and then attempted to "forcibly remove" him from his wheelchair. The DOJ filing follows HUD's issuance of Charges of Discrimination against the facility on September 25.

Interesting to note:

You may be surprised to read that an assisted living facility is imposing this ban, since you might expect such a place to be particularly attuned to the needs of tenants with disabilities and more aware of disability discrimination laws. According to the complaint, the facility's own admission requirements state that applicants must be "ambulatory," which the administrator explained means "capable of moving from place to place... even if the person required some form of assistance in moving about, be it a cane, walker, or a[n] electric or nonelectric wheelchair or scooter." (Emphasis added.)