The document discusses various fair housing issues including: 1) New HUD rules that prohibit discrimination in housing based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status. 2) Considerations around domestic violence and not evicting victims of domestic abuse. 3) Requirements under the Fair Housing Act to accommodate service animals beyond just guide dogs. 4) The risk of disparate impact claims from criminal background checks or other tenant screening practices.

1. Fair Housing
What’s New on the Scene?
Nadeen Green, Senior Counsel
For Rent Media Solutions™

2. AppFolio
• Web-based property
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• Complete Solution Includes
• Property Mgmt & Accounting
• Online rent collection (free)
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• Marketing
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• Online applications
• Resident Screening
So You Run a More Successful Business
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3. Grace Hill
• Leading Education Provider
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Specific Training
• Vision Learning
Management System (LMS)
• Custom Course
Development
• www.gracehilllearning.com

4. Nadeen is not your attorney…
…so today’s
presentation is
educational and
informative,
but it is not legal
advice.
©2012 AppFolio, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

5. LGBT Americans
LGBT refers to the
community of those who are:
• Lesbian
• Gay
• Bisexual
• Transgendered
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6. LGBT Americans
HUD’s new Equal Access to Housing Rules apply to
housing that is financed or insured by HUD:
4. such housing must be made available without regard to
actual, perceived sexual orientation, gender identity,
or marital status
2. owners and operators cannot inquire about
sexual orientation or gender identity
nor deny housing on that basis and…
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7. LGBT Americans
3. “family” includes LGBT individuals and
couples as eligible for HUD’s public
housing and voucher programs
4. sexual orientation and gender
identification cannot be considered in
FHA-insured mortgages
excerpted from January 2012 article by Shaun Donovan, HUD
Secretary
©2012 AppFolio, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

8. LGBT Americans
While this Rule applies only in
the HUD sector, it could likely
in the future become required
for
conventional properties.
So what?
LGBT should be a non-issue
for you, as it is not part of the
3 step analysis of what
makes a good resident.
©2012 AppFolio, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

9. What makes a good resident?
2. Is the person’s income appropriate
for the housing?
2. Will the person be able to take care
of the apartment?
3. Will the person be able to abide
by your community rules?
How easy is that?
©2012 AppFolio, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

10. Side Bar!
• Is the person’s income appropriate for the
housing?
• Will the person be able to take care of the
apartment?
• Will the person be able to abide by your
community rules?
Remember that Persons with Disabilities
(PWDs) do not have to take care of the
apartment or comply with your rules themselves.
They can arrange for this to be accomplished
through others. Watch out for “independent
living” requirements.
©2012 AppFolio, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

11. Domestic Violence
This has become an issue
because statistically
more women than men are
victims of domestic abuse.
When such victims are evicted
or their leases not renewed,
there is a gender bias
(and gender is a fair housing
protected class).
©2012 AppFolio, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

12. Domestic Violence
Check your State laws for any
Domestic Violence legislation;
you may have to:
• allow residents to change locks
• allow residents to terminate the
lease
• allow residents to remain
despite a domestic violence
incident that would otherwise
be a lease violation
©2012 AppFolio, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

13. Domestic Violence
Ponder the words of Kary Moss, executive
director of the Michigan ACLU (which filed
suit against a Detroit landlord for evicting a
woman whose ex-boyfriend trashed her
apartment while she was not home because
this was a failure to “properly supervise
guests”):
“All too often women are victimized
twice – first by an abuser and again
by a landlord.”
©2012 AppFolio, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

14. And now…
…time for a polling question!
©2012 AppFolio, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

15. Service Animals
Despite the ADA decision in 2011, under the FHA it’s
not “just guide dogs”:
1. Dogs assist their humans as to issues
related to diabetes (sensing blood
sugar levels) and FAS – fetal alcohol
syndrome (calming effect on child).
2. Miniature horses guide the blind.
And…

16. Service Animals
3. Iguanas can assist with
depression.
4. Monkeys assist those with
physical challenges.
But the good news is that residents pick up the
waste!
Federal Register, Vol. 73, No.208,
Monday, October 27, 2008, page 63836.
©2012 AppFolio, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

17. Criminal Background
You may be precluded from
performing criminal background
checks under the theory of
disparate impact.
What is disparate impact?
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18. Disparate Impact
The adverse effect of a practice or standard that is
neutral and non-discriminatory in its intention, but,
nonetheless, disproportionately affects individuals
who belong to a particular group that is
protected under the law.
“pseudofolliculitis barbae”
©2012 AppFolio, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

19. Could this mean…
...you must take
Section 8
residents?
…no more
income
standards?
©2012 AppFolio, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

20. Email name profiling
• Respond to emails
or online guest cards
promptly
• Consider the risks
in “personalizing”
responses
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21. Email name profiling
“Landlords favor whites by responding
quicker, writing e-mails that are longer,
and using more positive language…
landlords choose to discriminate by
encouraging white tenants through positive
language instead of discouraging African
American tenants through negative
language.”
Andrew Hanson, Zackary Hawley, Aryn Taylor
Subtle Discrimination in the Rental Housing Market:
Evidence from E-mail Correspondence with Landlords (2011)
©2012 AppFolio, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

22. Social Media
Social Media Marketing = Advertising
= Fair Housing Considerations
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23. Social Media
What do You see
about Me ?
What do I see
about YOU ?
©2012 AppFolio, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

24. And now…
…another polling question!
©2012 AppFolio, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

25. Side Bar
• Don’t post anyone’s photo anywhere
without a model release.
2. Keep your Model Releases FOREVER (and ever)!
3. Remember that employees at your community
need to sign a Model Release if you are ever
going to show them (or have their voices) in any
of your advertising, SM or otherwise.
©2012 AppFolio, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

26. And now…
…our last polling question!
©2012 AppFolio, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

27. Hoarding
Hoarding may or may not
be a fair housing issue,
but an issue it certainly is.
Risk management would
suggest that you attempt
reasonable accommodation
as you would for a PWD.
©2012 AppFolio, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

28. Hoarding
1. Being able to see their “belongings”
may make hoarders more willing to put
their things “away.” Remove cupboard doors.
5. Give specifics when communicating:
 “Nothing may block windows or electrical
outlets”
 “All food items must be in containers
to avoid attracting pests”
Thank you Craig McMahon with Kimball, Tirey and St. John.
©2012 AppFolio, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

29. Now it’s time to say good-bye
One of Nadeen’s favorite quotations:
“The legal system can force open doors and
sometimes even knock down walls,
but it cannot build bridges.
That job belongs to
you and me.”
Justice Thurgood Marshall, United States Supreme Court
©2012 AppFolio, Inc. All Rights Reserved.