The Federal Fair Housing Amendments Act (“FHA”) prohibits discrimination of protected classes in the provision of housing by community associations. Under the FHA, the protected classes are as follows:

  • Race
  • Color
  • Religion
  • National Origin
  • Sex
  • Disability
  • Familial Status

These last two protected classes were added under the protection of the FHA in 1988. Since that time, there have been countless cases on both state and federal levels, as well as opinions from the Housing of Urban Development (HUD) which affect community associations, particularly as it relates to discriminatory practices, policies and procedures towards those owners with disabilities.

The FHA defines a person as being disabled when he or she has a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits his or her ability to perform one or more major life activities. Major life activities include the following:

  • Seeing
  • Talking
  • Walking
  • Sleeping
  • Breathing
  • Concentrating
  • Working
  • Hearing
  • Communicating
  • Performing manual labor
  • Learning
  • Caring for oneself

Physical and mental impairments have been increasingly broadly defined under the FHA. Physical and mental impairments have been found to include the following: any physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic disfigurement, anatomical loss, mental retardation, orthopedic, visual, speech and hearing impairments, cerebral palsy, autism, epilepsy, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, HIV, emotional illness, depression, alcoholism, recovering drug addicts, bipolar disorder and social anxiety disorder. This is not an all-inclusive list. Ever evolving case law on both the state and Federal level are establishing more and more conditions which would be considered to be a disability under the FHA.

In addition, the FHA makes it clear that reasonable accommodation requests must be allowed where the handicap is 1) readily apparent; 2) where the person is believed to have a handicap; or 3) where the person has a history of a handicap.

It is imperative for boards of directors and community association managers to be aware of how broadly disability is defined under the FHA if and when an owner makes a request for an accommodation. Denial of an accommodation on the mistaken belief that a person would not fall within the definition as having a disability could result in substantial fines for an association under the FHA. When in doubt, the association should consult with legal counsel to ensure that the request for an accommodation is being handled properly.