Expert Update: Fair Housing for People with Disabilities

Imagine if builders, developers and providers approached access issues the same as we do for persons without disabilities. The objective is for enjoyment and use. When a person without a disability goes into an apartment complex, there is no question that the expectation is that everything is functional and meets their needs. There is a way to design, develop and serve that provides access and enjoyment to all.

On May 3, Georgia hosted a Fair Housing Accessibility FIRST training to provide practical technical training and support to give people who deal with housing issues the ability to comply with the law. Knowledge can mean the difference between someone’s ability to enjoy and use housing.

The training was created to help design professionals, developers and builders better understand their obligations and help persons with disabilities better understand their rights regarding the “design and construction” requirements for covered multifamily dwellings under the federal Fair Housing Act. The Fair Housing Act (FHA, the Act) policy reinforces the requirement that multifamily housing is to be designed and constructed so that it is accessible to persons with disabilities.

The guidance was designed to, “assist design professionals, developers and builders in understanding and meeting their obligations and to assist persons with disabilities in understanding their rights regarding the ‘design and construction’ requirements of the federal Fair Housing Act,” according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Through the Act came Fair Housing Accessibility FIRST, an initiative designed to promote compliance with the FHA design and construction requirements. The program offers comprehensive and detailed instruction programs, useful online web resources, and a toll-free information line for technical guidance and support.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) and HUD became jointly responsible for enforcing the federal FHA, which prohibits discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status and disability.

One of the types of disability discrimination prohibited by the Act is the failure to design and construct covered multifamily dwellings with certain features of accessible design. The Act requires that covered multifamily dwellings be designed and constructed with the following accessible features:

• The public and common use areas must be readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities;
• All doors designed to allow passage into and within all premises of covered dwellings must be sufficiently wide to allow passage by persons with disabilities, including persons who use wheelchairs;
• All premises within covered dwellings must contain the following features:
o An accessible route into and through the dwelling unit;
o Light switches, electrical outlets, thermostats and other environmental controls in accessible locations;
o Reinforcements in bathroom walls to allow the later installation of grab bars;
o Usable kitchens and bathrooms such that an individual using a wheelchair can maneuver about and use the space.
For housing to become more accessible through accommodations and modifications can start in looking at the accessible route requirement.

According to the FHA, an accessible route is defined as, “a continuous unobstructed path connecting accessible elements and spaces in a building or within a site that can be negotiated by a person with a severe disability using a wheelchair, and that is also safe for and usable by people with other disabilities.”

The guidelines also require an accessible pedestrian route, within the boundary of the site, from vehicular and pedestrian arrival points to the entrances of covered buildings and dwelling units, except in very limited circumstances.

These accommodations translate into the following seven requirements and how meeting these requirements can provide basic equal access:
• Requirement 1 - Accessible building entrance on an accessible route.
• Requirement 2 - Accessible and usable public and common use areas.
• Requirement 3 - Usable doors.
• Requirement 4 - Accessible route into and through the covered dwelling unit.
• Requirement 5 - Light switches, electrical outlets, thermostats and other environmental controls in accessible locations.
• Requirement 6 - Reinforced walls for grab bars.
• Requirement 7 - Usable kitchens and bathrooms.

Compliance with these accessibility features allows for access and enjoyment to a person with a disability in the community, and HUD and DOJ provide additional guidance in what compliance with each of these requirements looks like. Fair Housing Accessibility FIRST: For further information and technical assistance, visit www.FairHousingFirst.org

LYNNAE THANDIWE is the compliance director with Georgia Department of Community Affairs.



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