Housing and Disability Discrimination Laws

While the Americans With Disabilities Act protects people from discrimination in employment and public accommodations, the federal Fair Housing Act protects people with disabilities from discrimination in housing. Under this law, a disability means a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits at least one major life activity. These include vision, hearing, speech, breathing, walking, or caring for oneself, among others. In addition to people with disabilities, people who are regarded as having disabilities and people with a record of disabilities are protected. The FHA prohibits discrimination not only in the rental or sale of real estate but also in related activities such as securing a mortgage loan or insurance.

Accessibility Requirements for New Housing

New multi-family housing with four or more units must be designed and built to allow access to people with disabilities. For example, doors must be wide enough for wheelchairs to pass through them, and bathrooms must provide enough space to navigate a wheelchair.

Housing discrimination can be challenging to recognize. Landlords, real estate agencies, and other entities involved in property transactions generally have a basic awareness that they are not supposed to discriminate based on a disability. Thus, they may treat people with disabilities in more subtly adverse ways. Some potential signs of discrimination include:

  • Asking a person with a disability for their medical history
  • Advising a person with a disability that neighbors will not get along with them or that they will not feel comfortable in the neighborhood
  • Requiring a larger security deposit or increasing rent payments
  • Changing the terms of a transaction after seeing the person with a disability for the first time, or suddenly telling them that the property is no longer available
  • Refusing to accommodate an assistance animal based on a no-pets policy

If you are not sure whether you have experienced housing discrimination, you might want to consider discussing your situation with an attorney in your area who handles these cases.

Reasonable Accommodations and Modifications in Housing

The Fair Housing Act provides that people with disabilities have a right to reasonable accommodations and modifications. A reasonable accommodation is a change to a policy or practice, or an exception to a rule. Landlords and other housing providers generally must make these accommodations when they are needed to give a person with a disability an equal opportunity to use and enjoy their home and any public and common use areas. For example, a landlord might need to assign an accessible parking space to a tenant with a disability, arrange for them to move to a ground-floor apartment, or allow them to have a caregiver stay overnight when they otherwise prohibit overnight guests.

Similarly, a housing provider must grant a reasonable modification to a person with a disability. This is a physical change that is needed to make the premises accessible and give them full enjoyment of the property. For example, a tenant might need to install a grab bar in a bathroom to reduce the risk of falls, or they might need to have a ramp installed to enter the building.

Reasons for Refusing an Accommodation or Modification

What is “reasonable” depends greatly on the specific facts, but generally a housing provider may refuse to provide a requested accommodation or modification when:

  • There is no relationship between the request and the disability, or there is no need for an accommodation or modification related to the disability
  • It would impose an undue burden on the housing provider
  • It would fundamentally alter the nature of the housing provider’s program

However, if the request would result in an undue burden or fundamental alteration, the housing provider still must provide a reasonable alternative accommodation or modification that would not impose an undue burden or fundamentally alter the program.

In deciding whether to grant a requested accommodation or modification, a housing provider has a right to information essential to determining whether the accommodation or modification is needed for a disability. They may get this information from the person with a disability, or from a doctor, a service agency, or anyone else who knows about the disability. Evaluating a request usually does not justify getting the full medical records of the person with a disability, though. When a disability and the need for an accommodation or modification are obvious or already known to the housing provider, they are not entitled to additional information.

Enforcing Housing Protections for People With Disabilities

Deadlines

An FHEO complaint must be filed within one year and ideally sooner.

A person with a disability may have legal recourse if a housing provider fails to grant a reasonable accommodation or modification, if it does not promptly respond to a request, or if it engages in another form of disability discrimination. They can file a complaint with the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This should contain information such as the date of the violation, the names and addresses of the parties involved, the address of the property at issue, and the incidents supporting their belief that disability discrimination occurred.

Someone who has experienced disability discrimination in housing also may file a lawsuit in court within two years after the incident occurred. They do not need to go through the administrative process before going to court. People with disabilities also may have rights under state or local fair housing laws, which may be more expansive than federal law.

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