Acting on a complaint initially filed back in 2016, just yesterday the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) formally charged the owners, architect, and builder of an apartment building (with 164 units on six floors) in Denver, Colorado with housing discrimination for failing to make the property accessible to residents with disabilities. In addition to the seven protected classes in the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA), covered multifamily housing must be designed and constructed to ensure it is accessible and usable for people with disabilities.
The case started after a local Denver fair housing group conducted tests on the property and filed a disability discrimination complaint. Finding merit to the complaint, HUD’s charge asserts that the owners and builders did not design and construct the complex in accordance with the FHA as specific areas of the building remain inaccessible to people with mobility impairments. While all of the individual units are reachable by elevator, the complaint notes issues with accessible routes to the swimming pool and hot tub located in a courtyard. Specifically, the charge alleges the thresholds for the doorways are too high (by half an inch) and the door-opening force required to enter exceeds the maximum allowable force in the guidelines. Furthermore, HUD claims six of the seven parking spots designated for accessible parking are out of compliance with the applicable standards.
Now, there are always two sides to every story, and just because a plaintiff asserts a claim does not mean it is true. One takeaway here, of course, is to ensure multifamily properties are designed and built in accordance with the applicable standards. Indeed, the law contains seven safe harbors that must be complied with. Or property owners will need to speak with a lawyer like me.
Another takeaway is that property owners must be understand that fair housing testers (many of who are funded at least in part by HUD) are out there looking for FHA violations. Even technical ones like those included in this discrimination charge.
Just A Thought.
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