The Trainer
Avoiding Discrimination Complaints from Applicants and Residents with Mental Disabilities
In this special issue, the Insider spoke with an expert on fair housing law to help you learn how to observe the rights of mentally disabled applicants and residents. Here are some important points to remember:
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A disabled individual is not required to disclose his disability to you, and in most circumstances you are not permitted to inquire about a disability.
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Under the law, you do not have to approve every reasonable accommodation request you receive, but you are required to consider each one in good faith.
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You should not assume an individual is disabled or that she needs a reasonable accommodation. It is up to the applicant or resident to ask for one.
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Don't be guided by myths and stereotypes about people who live with mental disabilities. Misperceptions are often the source of discriminatory behavior.
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Discrimination does not have to be intentional to be illegal.
TRAINER'S QUIZ
INSTRUCTIONS: Each of the questions below has only one correct answer. On a separate sheet of paper, write down the number of each question, followed by the answer you have chosen—for example, (1) b, (2) a, and so on. The correct answers (with explanations) follow the quiz. Good luck!
QUESTION #1
Hillside Homes has a policy of checking the last three years of rental history of all applicants. In checking the history of applicant Paul Baker, the leasing agent at Hillside Homes discovered a gap of several months during which Mr. Baker was not renting an apartment. Citing a poor rental history, Hillside declined his application. Mr. Baker said he had been disabled and hospitalized and asked for leniency so he could be admitted to Hillside. Hillside staff refused to consider the request. Did Hillside violate fair housing law?
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Yes.
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No.
QUESTION #2
To stay out of court, a savvy leasing manager should grant all reasonable accommodation requests. True or false?
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True.
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False.
QUESTION #3
The manager of Hillside Homes wants to assign Mrs. Alvarez to a unit near the management office so she can keep an eye on her. Mrs. Alvarez is elderly and disabled and seems a little disoriented sometimes. Is this special assignment acceptable?
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Yes.
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No.
QUESTION #4
Mr. O'Shea, a resident of La Vista Towers, has a psychiatric disorder and is disabled, but he has not asked management for any accommodation. He rarely leaves his unit and keeps it filled with clutter, to the point that neighbors say it's a firetrap. Stacks of old newspapers make it nearly impossible to get in or out the door. The management of La Vista Towers should:
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ignore the situation because Mr. O'Shea is not hurting anyone.
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write up a lease violation for the record, but not follow up on it because Mr. O'Shea is disabled and deserves special consideration.
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write a standard lease violation under the terms of Mr. O'Shea's lease.
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call Mr. O'Shea's mental health caseworker to talk to Mr. O'Shea about lease compliance.
QUESTION #5
Tung Mui Chan's name came up on Hillside's waiting list. Hillside denied her admission because she repeatedly violated the lease at her last unit and once damaged a car in the site's parking lot. She said that alcoholism was behind the old lease violations, and she asked, as a reasonable accommodation, for Hillside to waive its admission standards to allow her to live there. Hillside verified and considered the request but said no. Did Hillside discriminate based on disability in denying her reasonable accommodation request?
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Yes.
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No.
ANSWERS & EXPLANATIONS
QUESTION #1
Correct answer: a
Yes. According to Allen's view, Hillside broke the law by not considering the applicant's request. While Hillside might have had good reason to decline the application under its admission policy, it was obligated to consider in good faith a request from a disabled individual to waive the policy. It should have requested verification from a medical provider to support the request, then considered whether the law required granting the accommodation. The mistake was in not taking the request seriously.
QUESTION #2
Correct answer: b
False. The law does not require site managers to approve every request for accommodation. Your job is to consider each request on its own merits, and approve only the ones that are reasonable. As the law defines it, “reasonable” means that the modification to your policy does not result in a fundamental alteration in the nature of the housing program or activity, or create an undue financial or administrative burden for the housing provider. The accommodation also must be related to the resident's disability needs.
QUESTION #3
Correct answer: b
No. Owners and managers must uniformly apply site policies to all applicants and residents. This special unit assignment would be considered steering. If Mrs. Alvarez claimed a disability and asked for a unit in a particular location as a reasonable accommodation, the management would have to verify her disability and consider her request. Otherwise, it should follow its standard unit-assignment policy as it would for all other applicants and residents.
QUESTION #4
Correct answer: c
As Michael Allen put it, having a disability is not a go-free card. Mr. O'Shea is disabled, but he is responsible for meeting the terms of his lease, just as every other resident of La Vista is. If he needs a reasonable accommodation in order to keep his unit in acceptable shape, he has to ask for one. Otherwise, management has the right and responsibility to enforce the lease just as it does with every other resident. If Mr. O'Shea does make a request to help him resolve his lease violations, management must accept it (unless it is unreasonable for the reasons given in the answer to Question #2).
Answer a is incorrect because ignoring an obvious hazard in the building does no one any good.
Answer b is incorrect because being disabled does not give a resident the right to special treatment, unless he asks for it and unless the special treatment is reasonably required to allow him to fully use and enjoy his housing.
Answer d is incorrect because privacy rules apply, so unless Mr. O'Shea asks for help, the manager may not call his caseworker. The manager may call if she think he's a serious danger to himself or his neighbors, but she can't expect the caseworker to do her job for her. She has to enforce the lease as she would with any other resident, unless Mr. O'Shea asks for, and the manager grants, a specific accommodation.
QUESTION #5
Correct answer: b
No. According to Allen, the law recognizes alcoholism as a disability. However, site owners are still entitled to use objective admissions criteria that screen out potentially noncompliant residents. In this case, Hillside followed a standard written policy that it applied to all applicants. It gathered objective evidence from the old site showing the applicant might be noncompliant with the lease by abusing alcohol and might damage the property. Hillside considered the applicant's request, but decided it was not reasonable to ignore the applicant's recent negative history as a renter. It was this recent behavior, not her status as a disabled person or a bias against the disabled, that sank her application. (Note that under HUD rules, owners may terminate tenancy if a resident's pattern of abuse of alcohol threatens the health, safety, or right to peaceful enjoyment of the premises by other residents.)
See The Lesson For This Quiz
| Observing the Rights of Applicants and Residents with Mental Health Disabilities |