Episode 07: "Next Gen" Reasonable Accommodations And Disability Law Trends
A right to an emotional support animal has been a heavily discussed topic for years, especially for certain extreme requests involving the use of an exotic animal for emotional support purposes, or when there is a claim that...more
The Federal Fair Housing Act (FHA), as well as the substantially similar Florida Fair Housing Act (FFHA), prohibits discrimination in housing based on a person’s disability. As “housing providers,” homeowners associations and...more
In the last few years, employers, education institutions, and places of public accommodation (e.g., airports, grocery stores, and hotels) have seen an increase in individuals who want to bring their Assistance Animal, Service...more
Laws regarding service and emotional support animals can be confusing to property owners—and guidance can vary depending upon the type of animal and its function. For example, recently, the Department of Housing and Urban...more
Imagine you are in charge of a facility that is open to the public—perhaps a church, a restaurant, a hardware store, or an apartment building. A woman enters with a dog on a leash. She says the dog is a service dog or...more
What is the difference between a service animal and an emotional support animal? A service animal is a dog which has been trained to perform a specific task or to do work directly related to a person’s disability. Service...more
QUESTION: What are “Service Animals”, and to what extent: Must they be allowed on business premises? Can they be refused or removed from premises? ...more
Part one of this series article addressed whether homeowners associations are required to allow support dogs in common areas where dogs may otherwise be prohibited. This article will address whether homeowners and...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: California enacts new law, effective January 1, 2022, to crack down on fraudulent emotional support dogs....more
The reason that many people want to live in a community that is governed by “Codes, Covenants and Restrictions” (“CC&R’s) is to have the peace-of-mind that comes with knowing that everybody in the community is “playing by the...more
Recently, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) filed a charge of discrimination claiming (Charge) claiming Missouri landlord Dahms Investments, L.L.C. (Dahms) violated the FHA by requiring a prospective...more
In a press release issued a couple of weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) charged a New York property owner with discrimination under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) asserting that the owner failed...more
Pursuant to a release issued last week, the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) stated it charged the owner and manager of apartment homes in Wisconsin with housing discrimination for allegedly refusing to...more
A handful of helpful reminders today in response to questions sent in by blog readers: 1. If you are going to draft community rules and policies (indeed, a best practice in my view) please remember not to single out...more
The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), on Jan. 28, issued new guidance on requests for reasonable accommodation under the Fair Housing Act (FHA) relative to “assistance animals” in various...more
Your humble Fair Housing Defense blog editor appreciated hearing from a number of you concerning the new HUD guidance addressing reasonable accommodation requests for animals under the Fair Housing Act (FHA). In response to...more
In another helpful development for the professional apartment management industry, last week the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) issued a long-awaited guidance document concerning use of an animal as a...more
Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued its new guidance, “Assessing a Person’s Request to Have an Animal as a Reasonable Accommodation under the Fair Housing Act.” In the...more
My post from last week concerning the proposed rules authored by U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) attempting to make certain only legitimate service animals fly with their owners on in the air resulted in a few...more
In a statement issued at the end of last week, the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) announced it resolved a disability discrimination Fair Housing Act (FHA) case in California asserting that various...more
When I do fair housing training, I always say to my audience that if one of you has a question, I am willing to bet another person in the room has the same question....more
Dogs can bring us companionship, a sense of purpose and enhanced health. Fortunately, courts (and landlords) are increasingly recognizing that an emotional support dog may be a reasonable accommodation of a disability under...more
Fifty years after the passage of the Fair Housing Act, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) continues to demonstrate a strong commitment to Fair Housing, both through the support of private...more
Our friends at the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) publish a myriad of reports concerning the Fair Housing Act (FHA) and the efforts of the Department to enforce the law. One of the reports I like to...more
Loyal Fair Housing Defense blog readers (thank you very much) know that I defend (and report on) what seems like a never ending stream of emotional support animal (ESA) housing discrimination cases these days. The typical run...more