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| WA State FAIR HOUSING UPDATE: October 2005 |
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By Karen Peirolo, King County Office of Civil Rights You have just issued a 3-day notice to vacate to a family in your complex because one of the occupants, an adult female, threw a pizza at another tenant in their apartment and caused some damage to the light switch as she was dragged out by her family members. Okay, sounds fine--but wait! Next thing you know, you get a letter from that tenant asking you to stop any attempts to vacate her and her family from the apartment complex as a reasonable accommodation for her disability. The tenant explained that she was briefly unable to obtain medication but she now was back on her medication and stable. How should you respond? A King County apartment complex in a similar situation denied their tenant's request for an accommodation and offered to take no further action if the family voluntarily vacated. When the family did not vacate, the complex management started eviction proceedings. Following a resolution conference with a mediator from the King County Office of Civil Rights, the owner of the apartment complex agreed to pay the family $15,000. As a housing provider, an outright refusal to discuss a request for a reasonable accommodation from someone who has a disability will get you into trouble. When a tenant asks to receive an accommodation as an alternative to eviction, she needs to establish a link between the lease violation and her disability. You should ask the tenant to provide a letter from her treatment provider that confirms that she has a disability, that her lease violation was a result of her disability and that she is now able to comply with the apartment rules. In the King County case, the tenant explained that her husband lost his job and his medical coverage, and was desperately trying to cover her medication expenses during the brief period it took him to apply for extended medical benefits. Had the apartment managers engaged in a dialogue with the tenant, they would have learned that new medical coverage was in place that would prevent her from destabilizing in the future. Agreeing to stop an eviction would have been reasonable in that case because the tenant had shown that the lease violation was a result of a disability and that the reason for the lease violation (being off her medication) no longer existed. Don't ask the tenant to provide proof that she is actually taking her medications--that is going too far. Remember, agreeing to stop an eviction and allowing a tenant to stay does not give the tenant a green light to engage in further lease violations. If there are further lease violations, go ahead and issue notices to comply, but continue to be open to discussions with the tenant about possible accommodations to address the new violations. Bottom line: Even when you have started an eviction, if a tenant notifies you that he or she has a disability and needs an accommodation, stop everything and start a dialogue with the tenant--it could save you a lot of money. For more information on this topic, read "Fair Housing Information Sheet # 4: Using Reasonable Accommodations To Prevent Eviction" from the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law online at www.bazelon.org/issues/housing/infosheets/fhinfosheet4.html. If you have any questions about this article or about other fair housing issues, contact the King County Office of Civil Rights at 206-296-7592 or 206-296-7596 TTY, or visit our web site at www.metrokc.gov/dias/ocre/HO.htm. KCOCR Fair Housing Home Page Your comments about this Web site Updated: Jan. 4, 2005 King County | DES | OCR | News | Services | Comments | Search Links to external sites do not constitute
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