March 26, 2021
The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced an agreement in a Fair Housing Act discrimination case. A conciliation agreement between a California resident and rental property owners/managers G Davi Properties and Guido A. Davi II.
This agreement addresses housing discrimination claims made by the resident that the housing providers denied the resident’s request for reasonable accommodate related to the use of an assistance animal.
Assistance Animals Are Permitted Under The Fair Housing Act
It is a violation of the Fair Housing Act for housing providers to deny such accommodations when deemed necessary to “use or enjoy” housing. A press release issued by HUD elaborates on this, stating:
“The Fair Housing Act prohibits housing providers from discriminating against people with disabilities, including refusing to make reasonable accommodations in policies or practices” to include “permitting persons with disabilities to have service animals or assistance animals. Housing providers, unlike public accommodations, may not prohibit people with disabilities from having assistance animals that perform work or tasks, or that provide disability-related emotional support.”
It is important to point out that it is not the landlord’s responsibility to make a determination as to the suitability of a service animal for such purposes. In context of Fair Housing laws, a landlord is not a trained medical or mental health professional and has no business attempting to make such determinations.
“An assistance animal can be a lifeline for persons with disabilities,” said Jeanine Worden, HUD’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, who was quoted in the press release.
Worden adds that “HUD is committed to enforcing the Fair Housing Act to ensure that housing providers recognize their obligation to make such right to that accommodations and comply with the nation’s fair housing laws.”
As with many housing discrimination cases, this issue only came to the attention of HUD thanks to the complaint filed by the victim of the discrimination.
Fair Housing Violations
In this case, the HUD press release tells us the resident with disabilities, “filed a complaint alleging that G Davi Properties and Guido A. Davi II discriminated against him by failing to grant his request to keep an assistance animal.”
The press release adds that after denying the reasonable accommodation request, “the owners allegedly canceled the lease, changed the locks on the unit, and threatened to call the police in the event that he attempted to move in.”
HUD says the defendants in this Fair Housing case made claims that the victim did not disclose the need for an assistance animal, but the HUD press release does note that the victim provided a doctor’s note verifying both the disability and the need for an assistance animal.
G Davi Properties Agrees To Pay $10K
The owners of G Davi Properties deny that they discriminated, but did voluntarily agree to settle the complaint to the tune of $10 thousand paid to the victim. G Davi Properties are also required under the agreement to create a specific policy addressing reasonable accommodation and they must implement Fair Housing training for their employees.
If you have experienced such housing discrimination or any other violation of the Fair Housing Act, report it to the HUD Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at (800) 669-9777 (voice) or (800) 877-8339 (Relay). Housing discrimination complaints can be filed online at hud.gov/fairhousing.
Joe Wallace has been specializing in military and personal finance topics since 1995. His work has appeared on Air Force Television News, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and a variety of print and online publications. He is a 13-year Air Force veteran and a member of the Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association. He was Managing editor for www.valoans.com for (8) years and is currently the Associate Editor for FHANewsblog.com.
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