Summer 2018 Special Issue Coach's Quiz

We’ve given you four rules about how to avoid fair housing trouble when handling reasonable accommodation requests. 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.

QUESTION #1

We must consider a request for a transfer to a different apartment because of a mobility impairment made by the resident’s mom, who doesn’t live at our community. True or False?

a.            True.

b.            False.

QUESTION #2

We are allowed to charge an additional deposit for a service animal if it weighs more than the weight limit we impose on pets. True or False?

a.            True.

b.            False.

QUESTION #3

We have to consider requests for accommodations only if they are made by the resident on our standard request form. True or False?

a.            True.

b.            False.

QUESTION #4

If the use of medical marijuana is legal in your jurisdiction, you must approve the use of it at your community. True or False?

a.            True.

b.            False.

COACH’S ANSWERS & EXPLANATIONS

QUESTION #1

Correct answer: a

You must consider a request for a transfer to a different unit because of a mobility impairment even though it was made by the resident’s mom, who doesn’t live at your community. Chasick warned that you can’t just ignore it because the request wasn’t made by the resident. The FHA says that reasonable accommodation requests may come from a prospect, a resident, or someone on his behalf.

Example: A local housing authority in Indiana, which owns and operates 143 public housing units in the city, recently agreed to pay $70,000 to resolve allegations of sexual harassment and disability discrimination. The lawsuit alleged that the housing authority’s employees subjected female residents to unlawful sexual harassment. The housing authority was also accused of discriminating against residents with disabilities by repeatedly denying requests for reasonable accommodations, including requests to be transferred to first-floor units and requests for a designated accessible parking space.

QUESTION #2

Correct answer: b

Under fair housing law, you’re not allowed to collect a security deposit on a service animal, Chasick said, citing a recent example of what can happen if you’re accused of failure to abide by this rule.

Example: The Justice Department recently reported a $37,343 jury verdict against a Montana landlord for charging a resident with physical and psychiatric disabilities a $1,000 deposit as a condition for allowing her to keep her service dog, Riley. At trial, the resident, her treating therapist, and an independent expert testified that Riley assisted the resident in living with the symptoms of her disability, a traumatic brain injury, by providing emotional support, helping to predict migraines, and reducing suicidal thoughts. The resident also testified that she repeatedly informed the landlord that charging a deposit for a service animal was illegal, but the landlord continued to levy this charge and, at one point, threatened to evict her.

QUESTION #3

Correct answer: b

You cannot require the request to be on your standard form—as a matter of fact, you can’t even require that the request be in writing at all, Chasick said. It’s a good idea to have a policy to document accommodation requests in writing. If you don’t have a form, you should go out and get one, Chasick said, and if someone doesn’t want to fill out the form, then you should fill it out for him.

QUESTION #4

Correct answer: b

At this moment in time, Chasick said, the answer is false. As long as marijuana is considered illegal by the federal government, regardless of what state law says about medical or recreational use of marijuana, communities are within their rights to say that is illegal under federal law and therefore we do not allow it. In reality, he says, most people using medical marijuana are not smoking it—they are ingesting it in some other form—and they’re unlikely to bring it up, so you’re probably not even going to know about it. Where this becomes a problem, he said, is when someone is smoking it, particularly if your building is smoke free. There, you’re generally within your rights to say, sorry but no, we’re not going to allow that.