Fair Housing: Making Everyday Decisions That Impact Fair Housing

Course Description

There is a reason Fair Housing is such a critical topic. The laws and guidance around the fair and non-discriminatory treatment of people are not only important and complex. They are also applicable to how we interact with people and the decisions we make each and every day in the housing industry. 

How comfortable are you with your understanding of how a policy at your community may disproportionately affect a protected group of people, and whether it would be considered a legitimate business necessity? Are you confident in how to handle accommodation or modification requests? How would you handle a concern about a stalker in your community?

Lawsuits and complaints regarding situations like reasonable accommodations, assistance animals and disparate impact are common in the housing industry. It is important to establish, practice and regularly update your understanding of these fair housing regulations so you can be more confident in your day-to-day interactions with customers.

In this series of courses you will learn:

• About HUD's standards concerning disparate impact and ways to reduce the risk of disparate impact claims 
• How to respond to accommodation and modification requests
• How the Violence Against Women Act protects survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking from housing discrimination
• How federal laws regarding service and assistance animals apply to multifamily properties, strategies for handling accommodation requests related to assistance animals, and what to do when you suspect a medical verification for an assistance animal is not legitimate
• About HUD's recommendations for applying criminal background checks fairly