I have been watching a curious trend. As written in this space (and elsewhere), many apartment residents and applicants submit requests for reasonable accommodations (changes in rules or a polies) or reasonable modifications (physical or structural changes to an apartment home). Which is fine and absolutely appropriate. I train my leasing office staff members to…

If you are an apartment management professional, it is good practice to presume your community is covered under our federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) as well as its state (and/or city or county counterpart). Indeed, under the federal law “dwelling” is defined as “any building, structure, or portion thereof which is occupied as, or designed…

Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) sent out a press release noting that it awarded over $37 million (yes, $37 million) to combat housing discrimination under its Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP). Add it all up and this money will support more than 150 national and local fair housing…

My favorite Fair Housing Defense blog post is always the first entry of each new year.  That is because I ask my Firm to compile a list of the most read entries from the previous year.  To that end, here we go with the Top Ten 2017 Fair Housing Defense posts (you can click on…

December will be here very soon. With the change in the calendar comes Christmas, Hanukkah, and other holidays. Always a great time for kids and families. Santa Claus. Christmas trees. Menorahs. Decorations. For professional apartment management, however, the question of what to do (or not do) with respect to holiday displays and decorations comes up…