May 2015 Coach's Quiz

We have given you six rules for handling requests for reasonable accommodations and modifications. Now let’s look at how the rules might apply in the real world. Take the COACH’s Quiz to see what you have learned.

INSTRUCTIONS: Each of the following questions has only one correct answer. On a separate piece of paper, write down the number of each question, followed by the answer you think is correct—for example, (1) b, (2) a, and so on.

And this month, there’s an extra assignment: Judge for Yourself, a summary of an actual court case. Test yourself on whether you think the community should be held liable, and then check the summary of the court’s ruling to see how much you have learned.

The correct answers (with explanations) follow the quiz. Good luck!

Question #1

It’s unreasonable for residents to ask for an exception to the policies that apply to everyone else. True or false?

a.   True.

b.   False.

Question #2

Any requested accommodation that costs the community money is unreasonable. True or false?

a.   True.

b.   False.

Question #3

A resident calls the office to say that she has a disability that makes it physically impossible for her to open the Dumpster that you’ve placed in the parking lot for trash collection. She says she needs you to send a maintenance worker to her unit on a daily basis to collect her trash and take it to the Dumpster. You should:

a.   Say no—she doesn’t appear to be disabled so she’s not entitled to special treatment.

b.   Ignore it—she didn’t say she needed a reasonable accommodation.

c.   Deny the request—maintenance workers are on site only three days a week, so it’s unreasonable to ask for daily trash pickup.

d.   Talk to the resident—to resolve the issue, you should discuss possible alternatives that would meet her disability-related needs.

Judge For Yourself

A long-term resident, who receives Section 8 housing assistance, has lived in a three-bedroom unit long after her two children moved out. After a review, the program administrator notifies you that she no longer qualifies for the three-bedroom unit under the Section 8 program. As a result, you notify the resident that she has to transfer to a smaller unit (and continue to receive housing assistance) or stay in the larger unit and pay the market rent without assistance.

When a two-bedroom unit becomes available, you advise her that she must move by a certain date or pay rent at market rate without assistance if she stays in the larger unit.

The resident asks for a reasonable accommodation to stay in the larger unit due to her disabilities. In addition to a bedroom, she says she needs one room for physical therapy and another room for reading and crafts, and that moving to a smaller unit would compromise her health. She also says she can’t move to the two-bedroom unit because of her hypersensitivity to sound, but you get a noise-level test, which shows that the smaller unit wasn’t unsuitably loud.

The resident stays in the three-bedroom unit but stops receiving the housing subsidy. After HUD rejects her fair housing complaint, the resident sues the community for denying her request for a reasonable accommodation and for retaliating against her because she recently won a separate HUD complaint for your failure to give her a key to the garbage depository on her floor.

What did the court decide?

COACH’S ANSWERS & EXPLANATIONS

Question #1

Correct answer: b

Reason: Rule #1 applies here:

     Rule #1: Don’t ‘Just Say No’

When an applicant or resident asks for an exception to your rules or policies, your first impulse may be to just say no. But fair housing experts warn against rejecting requests from applicants or residents for disability-related accommodations or modifications simply because they want an exception to your policies. By definition, reasonable accommodations are exceptions, changes, or adjustments to community policies, rules, or services needed because of a disability.

Question #2

Correct answer: b

Reason: Rule #3 applies here:

     Rule #3: Determine Whether Requested Accommodation Imposes Undue Burden

A requested accommodation isn’t unreasonable simply because it requires the community to pay some costs, but communities may deny requests as unreasonable when providing the requested accommodation would be so costly that imposes an undue financial and administrative burden on the community.

Question #3

Correct answer: d

Reason: Rule #5 applies here:

     Rule #5: Consider Alternatives If Request Is Unreasonable

This example, taken from the federal guidelines, shows what federal officials expect you to do when a requested accommodation may be unreasonable. They say that you should engage in an “interactive process” with the resident to discuss whether there’s a reasonable alterative accommodation that would effectively address the resident’s disability needs.

Wrong answers explained:

a.   Rule #1 applies here:

     Rule #1: Don’t ‘Just Say No’

Whatever you think of the validity of the request, it’s important to take her request for a reasonable accommodation seriously. Follow standard procedures and get more information, if needed, to determine whether the resident has a disability and a disability-related need for the requested accommodation.

b.   Rule #2 applies here:

     Rule #2: Find Out What the Resident Wants

Listen carefully whenever anyone says she wants or needs something special because of a disability. Under the FHA, a resident makes a reasonable accommodation request whenever she makes it clear to the housing provider that she is requesting an exception, change, or adjustment to a rule, policy, practice, or service because of a disability. She doesn’t have to mention fair housing law or use the words “reasonable accommodation.”

c.   Rule #3 applies here:

     Rule #3: Determine Whether Requested Accommodation Imposes Undue Burden

If you have a limited budget and your maintenance staff is on site only a few days a week, then it may be an undue financial and administrative burden on the community to grant her request for daily trash pickup. The requested accommodation may be unreasonable, but the guidelines suggest discussing an alternative that would meet the resident’s disability-related needs without imposing an undue burden on the community. For example, you could place an open trash can in a location accessible to the resident so she can dispose of her own trash and your maintenance staff could empty it when onsite.

Judge for Yourself: Answer & Explanation

In January 2015, a federal appeals court ruled that a cooperative community in Puerto Rico did not violate fair housing law by denying the resident’s accommodation request, but sent her retaliation claim back for further proceedings.

The resident claimed that she was simply asking to use her HUD subsidy to pay rent for the three-bedroom unit that she believed she was entitled to stay in as a reasonable accommodation under fair housing law. But it was the program administrator—not the community—who determined that she didn’t qualify for the subsidy if she stayed in the larger unit. She could have challenged that decision, but she sued the community, not the program administrator.

The resident couldn’t explain why a private landlord acted unlawfully by refusing to provide the subsidy itself. Even the resident didn’t claim that her requested accommodation—to stay in the larger unit—would be reasonable if the subsidy she previously received were not reinstated. The landlord’s denial of her request to stay in the larger unit rested solely on her inability to pay without federal rental support. She didn’t allege that the denial arose from any policy of the community that would prevent her from getting the funds needed to make the rent or contend the rent should be lowered [Batista v. Cooperativa De Vivienda Jargines de San Ignacio, January 2015].