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The federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) clearly bans intentional discrimination against applicants and others because of a protected characteristic such as race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, or disability. Courts often refer to claims for intentional discrimination as “disparate treatment”—that is, intentionally denying housing or otherwise discriminating against applicants and residents because they—or someone associated with them—is a member of a protected class.

Once a household has moved out of an assisted site and the unit is ready for reoccupancy, owners and managers can ask HUD to pay part of the contract rent for the vacant unit until a new eligible household moves in. HUD recognizes that owners have a potential financial risk due to limitations on security deposits and the need to adhere to waiting list requirements. As such, HUD has a special claims process to reimburse owners for their financial loss.

As an assisted site owner or manager, you must collect security deposits from all households when they move in. The security deposit is a dollar amount that’s intended to protect you by covering damage to the premises beyond normal wear and tear, and by cushioning the financial blow if a resident skips out early on the lease without paying.

HUD has issued two notices in the past three years that outline the penalties that owners or managers of HUD-assisted sites may face if they violate tenant participation requirements. HUD’s tenant participation rule requires certain owners to let organizers canvass residents and allow them to establish and operate tenant organizations. In fact, according to the Code of Federal Regulations, HUD’s policy is to promote resident participation and the active involvement of residents in all aspects of a housing authority’s mission and operation (24 CFR 964.11).

In September, HUD Inspector General David Montoya testified in front of the House Financial Services Committee. He highlighted the challenges of conducting investigations with HUD’s limited staffing capacity after sequestration as more fraudulent and abusive activity surfaces within government housing programs.

Very often, household members applying to or already living at a site say they need to have an aide live with them to help them with daily tasks. If a resident who is elderly (age 62 or older) or near elderly (age 50 or older) or who has a disability, asks you to allow her to have a live-in aide to accommodate her disability and to provide supportive services essential to her care and well-being, HUD and the Fair Housing Act (FHA) require you to grant the request as a reasonable accommodation.

By Carolyn Zezima, Esq.

Since 2009, HUD has strongly encouraged public housing agencies to adopt smoke-free buildings to protect the health of residents, and recently HUD has urged owners of federally assisted multifamily properties to go smoke-free. And you may be considering banning smoking at your site—or in parts of it—to save money and attract responsible residents.

From time to time, you may need to transfer a household to another unit at your site. For example, if a household has lost members, you may have to transfer it to a smaller unit because it’s no longer eligible to occupy the larger unit. Or you may be required by fair housing law to allow a household to transfer to a different unit to reasonably accommodate a disability. Whatever the reason for a transfer, once you’ve decided to do it, we recommend the following steps to process it.

Households that skip out without paying rent and don’t let you know where they’ve gone and whether they’re coming back can cause big headaches. When a unit is abandoned you have to deal with problems like frozen pipes and more serious health and safety hazards. And you need to figure out what to do about the household’s assistance.