FAIR HOUSING:
COMMON HOUSING ACCOMMODATIONS & MODIFICATIONS
Under the federal Fair Housing Act and local fair housing laws, housing providers must accommodate the needs of disabled applicants and tenants. A landlord or manager must reasonably adjust rules, procedures or services in order to give disabled tenants an equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling unit or a common space. Housing providers must also allow disabled tenants to make reasonable modifications to their living unit or common areas at the tenant's expense, if needed for them to live comfortably and safely in their units. Housing providers cannot ask applicants or tenants whether they have a disability, ask for details about the condition, or ask to see medical records. If a person requests a reasonable accommodation/modification, a housing provider may ask for proof that the request will address the tenant's disability needs. Upon request, the tenant should provide a letter from a health care practitioner verifying the person has a disability and requires the accommodation/modification.
Vision Disabilities
- Allow a service animal.
- Read notices aloud to the tenant or put notices in large print, audio tape or Braille.
- Provide ample inside and outside lighting.
- Provide large print or Brailled numbers on the front door or common use areas.
- Remove protruding objects from hallways and outside pathways.
- Provide a non-slip, color-contrast strip on stairs.
Hearing Disabilities
- Provide a doorbell flasher.
- Provide a visual alarm system on smoke detectors throughout the complex.
- Provide a sign language interpreter for tenant meetings.
- If phones are provided, using a visual flasher attachment.
- Allow a service animal.
- Install a TTY in the rental office.
- Amplify a communications system.
Cognitive Disabilities
- Write application, rental agreement and notices in clear and simple terms.
- Explain rental agreement and tenancy rules.
- Show where the water shutoff valve is and when to use it.
- Show how to use appliances and common use areas (laundry room, etc.).
- Make outside door locks or security locks simpler.
- Provide a reminder at the beginning of the month that the rent is due.
Psychiatric Disabilities
- Allow a service or companion animal.
- Move a tenant to another unit where it is quieter, if requested.
- Place an application back on the waiting list (if applicant missed intake interview or got paperwork in late due to the disability).
- If requested, provide intervention if the tenant is being harassed.
Physical Disabilities
- Widen doorways.
- Allow ramp to be built.
- Provide bathroom grab bars.
- Allow a personal care attendant to live with the tenant.
- Wrap kitchen and bathroom pipes with insulation.
- Allow mail-in applications.
- Meet at an accessible location.
- Install anti-skid tape on floors, stairs.
- Lower environmental controls.
- Lower closet rods.
- Provide lever door handles and automatic door closers.
- Move a tenant to another floor or to the ground floor for easier mobility, if requested.
- Clear shrubs away from pathways and trim to eye level.
HIV & AIDS
- Move a tenant to another floor or to the ground floor for easier mobility, if requested.
- Allow a personal care attendant to live with the tenant in a two bedroom apartment.
- If requested, provide intervention if the tenant is being harassed.
- Provide or allow a person from the community to educate other tenants about the condition.
Environmental Disabilities
- Use non-toxic fertilizers for landscape areas and non-toxic cleaning products for common areas.
- Remove carpet from the floors of the apartment, if requested.
- Remove the ballast or fluorescent lights from the kitchen and bathroom.
- Post "No Smoking" signs in common use areas such as the office, hallways, lobby and laundry room.
If you have questions about fair housing laws and enforcement or about disability access to County government, contact the King County Office of Civil Rights at 206-296-7592 or 206-296-7596 TTY.
Fair Housing | OCR Fair Housing Services
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Updated: June 7, 2005 |
