As I have previously written, fair housing investigators (both federal and state) ALWAYS want to work with you to settle a complaint. They will happily send you a settlement or voluntary compliance agreement ready for management to sign. To be fair, the Fair Housing Act (as well as the various state anti-discrimination laws) directs that the department or agency attempt to reach an amicable resolution of the action.
As a part of the investigatory process in many states, the agency will unilaterally schedule a fact finding conference. While each state law can be a little different, the general rule is that there is no requirement that management attend these conferences (although you will not know it from the directive you receive). Some cases are just so devoid of merit that I find there is nothing that can be gained by spending the time and money to attend. That being said, there are indeed times when management can indeed put its best foot forward and these conferences can be helpful. Remember, in the housing discrimination world, there are many cases in which management must prove our innocence. One of the ways we can do this is to meet the investigator (and sometimes the complainant) face to face and demonstrate a benign reason why we did what we did (or did not do what the complainant said we did).
Another quick point, while the claims in the complaint must set forth more than a generalized allegation of discrimination, remember that the intake official (whether it is federal or state) has the ability to aid the resident in drafting the specific allegations in the complaint. If you see a complaint that looks like it was drafted by someone other than your resident, the truth is that he or she likely had help. And you might want help in defending against it.
Just A Thought.