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Washington State FAIR HOUSING UPDATE |
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Three tales hold lessons in fair housing By the Seattle Office for Civil Rights A good story usually comes with a moral. In the following tales, we've changed a few details and left out the identifiers. But the fair housing lessons are real, and if you're a manager, they could even prove useful. Tale #1 — Document, document! Here's a situation that tested the definition of a "few days" and the patience of a few tenants. A tenant in a local building had a friend who'd stay over … and over. The tenant claimed his friend was his guest and that she only stayed a few nights at a time. Management claimed the woman was there for weeks, not days, and repeatedly warned the tenant that his guest was overstaying her welcome — not to mention violating the lease. When the manager finally attempted to evict the tenant, the tenant filed a charge of illegal discrimination based on race. This should have been a quick and straightforward investigation, but for one problem: management had kept no records of any of their dealings with the tenant. No documentation of warnings given, no chronology of events, nothing. SOCR's investigator interviewed various management employees on five different occasions. The manager had to work overtime to gather copies of their policies and procedures because he could find no single file that contained all of the critical documents. In the end, SOCR issued a "No Cause" finding, because the charging party's own witnesses confirmed management's version of events. (Note to semi-permanent guests: avoid tying up and making a mess in the women's sole communal bathroom. The other residents won't forget … or forgive.) Imagine how much more quickly the investigation would have gone if the manager had kept proper records, such as:
Tale #2 — Reasonable timeframe for an accommodation Management began renovating their apartment building in Spring 2005. Within a week, a tenant who lived on the second floor right above the dusty construction zone began to experience difficulty breathing. A visit to her doctor confirmed the diagnosis: for the first time in the tenant's life, she had developed asthma. The tenant immediately asked the manager either to seal off her apartment or to relocate her away from the clouds of dust that constantly rose up to her window. Management ignored her initial request, along with the one after that, and the one after that, and the one after that …. Well, you get the picture. About one year after the tenant's initial request, the manager agreed to move her to another unit away from the dust. At that point, the tenant contacted SOCR and filed a charge alleging discrimination based on disability. This case is still under investigation, so the facts may prove different than the tenant described them in her initial complaint. But the moral of the story? When it comes to fair housing, a reasonable accommodation delayed is a reasonable accommodation denied. To avoid a fair housing charge, act on a tenant's accommodation request in a timely manner. Tale #3 — Find out the facts A Seattle motel manager knew all about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), but he wasn't happy about accommodating guests with service animals. "This is a friendly call," we told him. "Nobody's filed a charge, but we heard that you may have turned away someone with a service animal, and we're just calling to offer you our free brochure." "We're a no-animal facility!" the manager explained. "The Health Department told the owner we have to pay $50 extra to clean the room every time a dog stays the night!" "That doesn't sound right," we said. "Can you get the name of the Health Department official who told you that?" "Sure," said the manager. "I'll get back to you." A few days later, the manager did call us back, and you could hear the relief in his voice. "Well, I've learned a few things," he said. "Turns out it wasn't the Health Department who told us that. In fact, we don't even know who told us. The owner bought this place twenty years ago when he first immigrated here. Someone told him then that he had to do a special room cleaning whenever we had an animal overnight. In fact, it may have been the guy who's always done the cleaning here - my boss can't remember." "So, no problem with service animals then?" we asked. "No problem. We may even start taking pets!" The moral of the story? Find out the facts. You may be barking up the wrong tree … and the next call may not be quite so friendly. Have a question about fair housing in Seattle? Call the Seattle Office for Civil Rights at 206-684-4500 (TTY 206-684-4503), or find SOCR on the Web at www.seattle.gov/civilrights. KCOCR Fair Housing Home Page Your comments about this Web site Updated: July 26, 2006 King County | DES | OCR | News | Services | Comments | Search Links to external sites do not constitute
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