The Fair Housing Institute, Inc.
We provide comprehensive fair housing online training to protect you, your property and your company.
Fair Housing laws have application towards holidays and holiday decorations. Best practices and compliance need to be solidly based on Fair Housing law and not on personal opinion.
As a professional in the housing industry, you may be faced with holiday-related items that are simply viewed as potentially offensive and/or insensitive but that are not against Fair Housing laws.
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We have an owner who is getting very frustrated with roommate situations in single-family home rentals where there are three roommates qualified together but no one qualifies on their own. So when one of them decides to leave, we end up typically in an eviction/skip situation. So he has asked us to add the following paragraph to our rental criteria for his 230+ single-family rental homes “Should two (2) or more people be applying together for a property at least one of the applicants must qualify on their own. If neither/none of the applicants qualify as individuals each applicant must have a qualified cosigner.” Thoughts?
Signed ~~ Qualification Question [Read more…]
We have a resident who is special needs. He comes into our office daily and spends all day on the computer and in our community center. That would not be an issue except he will stand around and stare at prospects, makes messes, and harrases my staff. We have had a couple of prospects who have made comments that him staring or listening in on them while with our leasing agent makes them uncomfortable. We are a tax credit community and I have tried being nice and talking to him but he lashes out and says he will sue us for discriminating against him. I am worried about a lawsuit but he has called my staff racial slurs. Could he file a complaint? What can we do to protect ourselves? [Read more…]
We recently had an opportunity to interview Jen Piccotti, Chief Operating Officer from ManagInc. We wanted her perspective on the connection between Fair Housing and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Enjoy her comments to our questions below. [Read more…]
Can some extreme actions by a resident be deemed a “direct threat,” thereby exempting property management from being required to make reasonable accommodation to the resident? [Read more…]
On April 11, 1968, Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968, also known as the Fair Housing Act was signed into law. The Fair Housing Act continues to pave the way for housing equal opportunity, equal access, and equal enjoyment for anyone who meets a community’s qualifying standards. It is the law. [Read more…]
Proper documentation can help you defend against an allegation of housing discrimination. It’s pretty safe to say that all property management companies would like to avoid a lawsuit for a Fair Housing violation if at all possible. [Read more…]
When was the last time you reviewed your screening policies? Prevent illegal discrimination in screening applicants by developing and practicing consistent policies. Terrorism concerns are relevant and need to be addressed in a proactive way and not reactive. Your team needs to be properly trained on Fair Housing compliance and also on how to properly apply any procedures and policies that you may implement. [Read more…]
Fair Housing training for maintenance professionals is a compliance prerequisite. Housing providers sometimes overlook this need. Often they are the first team members who arrive after a maintenance call comes in. They interact with residents on a regular basis. Kindness and courtesy can often be misinterpreted. We want kindness and courtesy to always be maintained. Scenario-based Fair Housing training goes a long way to create a good balance. [Read more…]
