Fair Housing CAM Certified Apartment Manager questions and answers

What are the protected classes that the federal Fair Housing Act and its amendments recognize? • Race • Color (shade of skin) • Religion • National Origin • Sex (including sexual harassment) • Familial Status • Handicap What are some of the ways a company can comply with fair housing laws? Everyone can be held personally liable for a violation, including, but not limited to, the individual leasing consultant, assistant manager, maintenance personnel, community manager or property supervisor, property owner and management company. Ultimately, the owner is responsible for the acts of his or her agents, and that responsibility is nondelegable. Liability follows the line of authority within the company. This means that supervisors should make certain everyone they supervise is trained and complying with fair housing laws. What is Disparate Impact Discrimination? This can occur when a neutral policy or procedure has a disproportionately negative impact on a protected class. An act or failure to act that has a disparate impact can still be found to be non-discriminatory if 1) there is a legitimate business necessity for the action or inaction and 2) there is no less discriminatory way to accomplish the business necessity. Who can be held liable for a violation of fair housing law? Everyone can be held personally liable for a violation, including, but not limited to, the individual leasing consultant, assistant manager, maintenance personnel, community manager or property supervisor, property owner and management company. Ultimately, the owner is responsible for the acts of his or her agents, and that responsibility is nondelegable. Liability follows the line of authority within the company. This means that supervisors should make certain everyone they supervise is trained and complying with fair housing laws. To qualify as senior housing, what requirements must a property meet? • The housing must be planned and managed for people 62 or 55 years of age or older. • It must make sure that it has policies and procedures in place that demonstrate its intent to qualify for the exemption. • These policies and procedures must be distributed and implemented, using the terms "Senior Housing," "A 55 and older community" or "A 62 and older community" in order to comply with HOPA requirements. In federally-assisted multifamily housing programs, what is a tenant-based subsidy? • An example of a direct subsidy would be the Section 8 Voucher program. In tenantbased subsidies, residents live in privately-owned properties and pay a portion or percentage of their household income for rent and utilities. • HUD or its local agent, a public housing authority or state agency enters into a Housing Assistance Payment Agreement (HAP) with the owner and pays the owner the difference between what the resident pays and what HUD considers a "fair" consideration. The tenant qualifies separately for the Voucher with the housing authority. Can you give a notice of termination of tenancy to a household with a Section 8 Voucher or a household who lives in federally-subsidized housing without stating "cause"? • Generally, the owner must be able to demonstrate good cause for the termination since the resident will lose his housing and/or voucher and in some cases may become homeless. An owner's ability to terminate such tenancies without cause is limited by federal law and by the terms of the HUD-required lease addendum. What three (3) types of reviews does HUD perform to ensure that a property manager is adhering to the proper operating procedures and business practices? • Physical inspections • Management reviews or on-site visits • Financial reviews What type of housing does Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 cover? • It provides protection against discrimination for persons with disabilities in subsidized housing and other federally assisted programs. It requires that federally funded housing programs be readily accessible to and usable by "qualified individuals with handicaps." What is the difference between the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and the FHA (Fair Housing Act)? • The ADA is an accessibility law, but not a fair housing law. It requires that portions of the property that are open to the public, such as your rental office, consider the needs of persons with disabilities. • The Fair Housing Act covers accessibility in the private portions of the property that are used only by the residents and their guests, such as the apartment homes and the amenities. What main things did the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 add to the Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968? • This amendment added extensive enforcement authority to federal, state and local governments to investigate and prosecute violations. The cap on punitive damages was removed for awards by federal courts, and civil penalties were added as a remedy for administrative enforcement actions. • Two (2) protected classes were added by this amendment: familial status and handicap/disability, which we will discuss in depth in Sections 3 and 4. Are older properties (those built before the ADA became effective - January 26, 1993,) "grandfathered" in so that the rental office, for example, does not have to be made accessible to the disabled? • Buildings constructed prior to that date need to be made accessible if "readily achievable" (interpreted to mean the building should be modified if the structural and/or financial costs of the modification would not create a burden for the owner). This means that the public areas of older properties are not "grandfathered" in by the ADA List 5 of the rental practices that would be considered violations of fair housing law. • Refusing to rent or sell housing; • refusing to negotiate a rental; • falsely denying that housing is available for inspection or rental; • making housing unavailable for sale or rental; • refusing to make a reasonable accommodation for a resident with a disability; • refusing to allow a resident with a disability to make a reasonable modification; • asking questions about an applicant's disabilities unless required for certain accessible units in subsidized properties; • setting different terms, conditions or privileges for the rental of a dwelling; • providing different housing services or use of amenities; • establishing restrictive rules for children rather than neutral rules that affect residents of all ages; • harassing a resident or allowing a resident to be harassed; • directing a renter to a specific neighborhood or area of an apartment community based on the person's protected class (this is "steering," which is defined as trying to control the outcome of where the person will live based on the person's protected class); • denying an individual access to or membership in a facility or service, such as a multiple listing service, related to the rental of housing; • advertising or making a statement that indicates a discriminatory preference; and • having discriminatory covenants in contracts, i.e. in planned developments. Who is protected under the category of familial status? • Households containing one or more people under the age of 18 who live with a parent or guardian, • households with pregnant women, • adoptive or foster families, • people in the process of adopting or becoming a foster family, and • households in the process of acquiring legal custody of a child under the age of 18. How can you determine what is a reasonable occupancy standard for your property? The Keating Memorandum is the closest guidance to a national occupancy standard existing today. This memorandum is an internal HUD document that was published in 1998 in the Federal Register as public guidance to housing providers on what HUD would use for enforcement purposes. It states that a policy of two persons per bedroom can be considered reasonable unless there are special circumstances that may allow for additional persons. When adopting reasonable occupancy standards for a property or a portfolio, several things should be taken into consideration: • Does the occupancy standard in any way limit opportunities for families with children? • Are there additional rooms in the rental that could be used as a bedroom? • Are some of the rooms extra large so they could accommodate more people? • Are there any state or local ordinances that dictate what the occupancy standard should be? • If there is a fair housing complaint which questions your occupancy standard, be sure you can support your policy through sound, non-discriminatory reasons. What are examples of reasonable restrictions that can be placed on children for health and safety reasons? The two restrictions that apply only to children that are reasonable are • Prohibiting children under (age) from swimming in the pool unless an adult is in attendance per state or local law, and • Requiring adult supervision for children under (age) when using the spa per state law, unless there is a local ordinance which restricts age-related use. You should not require the supervising adult to be a parent. The adult could be a babysitter or a grandparent, for example. Other age-restricted rules that may be reasonable on a case-by-case basis: • Requiring supervision of children under a certain age in a fitness center based on equipment manufacturer recommendations, or • Establishing age restrictions for use of certain playground equipment, such as in a tot-lot, again, based on manufacturer recommendations. What guidelines should a company follow in establishing their community policies in order to avoid violating fair housing law regarding families with children? • Do not prohibit children from using the amenities or common areas. Requiring adult supervision is acceptable only where there is a specific, legitimate and verifiable health or safety issue, such as the pool or spa. Don't require the adult to be a parent. Handle behavior issues (of any age) through good management techniques. • Establish restrictions that are reasonably necessary for the legitimate and verifiable health and safety of the children. Rules that are designed to protect the property should be neutral and apply to all residents, household members and guests. Always have rules reviewed by fair housing-knowledgeable counsel. • Ensure the property is internally and externally safe for all residents. • Use advertising materials that do not suggest a preference for applicants without children. • Do not charge a higher security deposit to households with children because there might be more wear and tear on the apartment. • Remove all references to children from the application, lease, occupancy standards, house rules and other documents, except where the rules are related to legitimate and verifiable health and safety provisions for use of the community's amenities, such as the pool and spa. These documents should be reviewed by fair housingknowledgeable counsel