Fair Housing Coach Compendium 2016

2016:
Top 5 Stories
From
1 vendomerealestatemedia.com
Presents...
FAIR HOUSING
COACH®
10 Tips to Prevent Fair Housing Trouble at Your Community................2
Fair Housing and Criminal Background Checks................................5
HUD: Veterans Deserve to Live Free
from Housing Discrimination.....................................................7
Fair Housing FAQs: Answers to Common Compliance Questions............8
5 Things You Can Do Right Now to Avoid Fair Housing Trouble............10

10 Tips to Prevent Fair Housing
Trouble at Your Community
In this month’s lesson, the Coach features 10 tips to help you prevent fair
housing trouble at your community. Federal fair housing law bans housing
discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability,
and familial status. On top of that, many state and local laws also ban
discrimination based on marital status, age, and sexual orientation, to name
a few other commonly protected characteristics.
Fair housing law can get pretty complicated, but the tips featured in this
lesson include management strategies to ensure fair housing compliance,
along with training tips so all your staff members understand what they
should—and shouldn’t—do to head off potential problems. At the end of the
lesson, you can take the Coach’s Quiz to see how much you’ve learned.
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10 MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES TO PREVENT
FAIR HOUSING TROUBLE AT YOUR COMMUNITY
Tip #1: Adopt a Fair Housing Policy
Having a written fair housing policy lets everyone—from your staff, to
prospective and current residents, to fair housing advocates and regulators—
know that your community doesn’t tolerate discrimination based on race,
color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, familial status, or any other
characteristic protected by state or local law. Put one in place—and feature
it prominently on your office walls, in your marketing materials, in your
application package, and in your operating policies and procedures. The
policy alone can’t guarantee you’ll never face a discrimination complaint,
but it’s often the first document that fair housing officials look for when
conducting an investigation. If you do have a problem, the policy sends
the message that it’s a rare exception, not a standard practice at your
community—an important defense strategy in fair housing cases.

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Tip #2: Provide All Employees with Fair Housing Training
Conduct regular fair housing training sessions to ensure that employees
understand that discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national
origin, disability, and familial status—or characteristics protected under
state or local law—will not be tolerated. Fair housing trouble can arise
whenever any employee interacts with the public, so include all staff—
leasing consultants as well as office, maintenance, and housekeeping
employees, says fair housing expert Anne Sadovsky.
Tip #4: Require Immediate Training for New Hires
Don’t allow new hires to interact with the public until they’ve received
at least some fair housing instruction. “Any company or employer in this
industry that doesn’t give fair housing training on day one is at risk,” warns
Sadovsky. That applies to all new hires, not just those in your leasing office,
says Sadovsky, who recommends mandatory fair housing training on the first
day on the job for everyone—including service techs, maintenance workers,
landscapers, and housekeeping staff.
Tip #3: Emphasize People Skills
Training staff in basic “people” skills is a key component in preventing fair
housing complaints. Such training is important, says Sadovsky, because more
people file complaints because of the way they are spoken to or treated
than they do as a result of actual discrimination. For example, she says,
staff should be trained not to “interrogate” when screening applicants. A
complaint could arise from a member of a protected class who attributes
being overly questioned or treated rudely by a leasing consultant to his
protected status—even if the consultant treats everyone that way.

Tip #6: Supervise Vendors and Contractors
Supervise outside contractors while they are working at your community.
Since your staff has been trained in fair housing issues, they’ll be able to
detect—and immediately address—any comments or conduct by a contractor
that could lead to potential fair housing problems. For instance, if a staff
member drops by the worksite and overhears a contractor’s work crew
exchanging racially charged jokes or using ethnic slurs while on the job, the
staff member will be in a position to do something to stop it before it leads
to fair housing trouble.
Tip #7: Appoint Fair Housing Coordinator
Appoint an employee to be the community’s fair housing officer, says
Sadovsky. Having one person who is well trained to respond to fair housing
complaints may help prevent informal complaints from escalating into
lawsuits or HUD complaints. The coordinator can effectively funnel key
compliance information and tips to your staff to ensure they understand how
to treat prospects and residents fairly under the law. When staff members
have questions about fair housing issues, the coordinator serves as the “go
to” person who will know how to get the information they need to comply
with fair housing requirements.
Tip #8: Maintain Written Policies and Procedures
Put your policies and procedures in writing. Having written
policies—and applying them consistently—helps reduce the likelihood that
your community will be accused of acting in a discriminatory or arbitrary
manner while dealing with prospects, applicants, or residents. And if you
ever face a discrimination complaint, the policies allow you to show your
commitment to fair housing principles and prove that—whatever the details
of the complaint—your community acted in a consistent manner and had
legitimate business reasons for doing what you did.
Tip #5: Train Staff to Report Potential Problems
Train employees about how to recognize and report potential fair housing
problems. For example, a resident may complain to a staff member about a
neighbor. The conversation may start off innocently enough, but if it veers
off into derogatory comments related to a protected characteristic—such
as gripes about noisy children or unfamiliar cooking smells—it’s a red flag
of potential fair housing trouble. Emphasize this in training to the cleaning
crew, maintenance workers, pool attendants, and similar service providers.
While making a service call or working in common areas, they may overhear
disputes between residents, observe inappropriate behavior, or get an earful
from a resident about a neighbor’s guests.

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Tip #10: Develop Comprehensive Policy for Multiple Communities
If you own or manage communities in more than one municipality or
more than one state, you may be faced with different requirements
for each community under state or local fair housing laws. Rather than
adopting a site-specific policy for each community, fair housing experts
recommend incorporating all the different state or local requirements in a
comprehensive fair housing policy. Having one set of policies and procedures
avoids confusion over which one applies to which community—particularly if
your staff handles communities in various locations. It’s also more practical
and less expensive to have one set of policies and procedures and to have
just one training program for your entire staff.
Tip #9: Include State and Local Fair Housing Requirements
Be sure that your policies and procedures reflect state and local fair
housing requirements. In addition to the seven characteristics protected
under federal law, your community may be subject to state and local laws
that ban discrimination based on marital status, age, sexual orientation,
gender identity, and source of income, and other protected characteristics.
It’s important to monitor what’s happening on the state and local level to
ensure that your fair housing policies reflect any changes that may affect
your community.
Fair Housing and Criminal
Background Checks
In its June 2012 lesson, Fair Housing Coach takes a look at a “hot topic”
in fair housing circles—the use of criminal background checks in screening
prospective residents.
The practice of using criminal records data to screen applicants is now
commonplace in conventional housing communities—even required in
federally assisted and public housing communities. Yet the practice is
drawing scrutiny, at least in part, because it affects a growing number
of prospective residents: Over the past 20 years, there has been a sharp
increase in the number of Americans who have had contact with the criminal
justice system, meaning a significant increase in the number of people with
a criminal history.

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Although communities have legitimate reasons to safeguard their property
and residents, many have raised concerns about the use of criminal
background checks under federal civil rights laws.
In a nutshell, the issue is whether the exclusionary policies based on
criminal background checks have an unfair effect—in legal parlance, a
disparate impact—on African Americans and Hispanics, who are protected
under federal civil rights laws governing employment and housing.
In general, the law recognizes at least two types of illegal discrimination:
disparate treatment (intentional) and disparate impact (unintentional). Most
people recognize that intentional discrimination is prohibited by civil rights
laws, but they may be unaware that it’s possible to have “unintentional”
discrimination, such as when a rule or leasing policy that applies to
everyone tends to affect a protected group or minority more than others.
Usually, this kind of unintentional discrimination (disparate impact) has to
be proved using statistical evidence.
The issue gained traction last month when the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued new guidelines governing the use
of criminal arrest and conviction records in employment decisions. Among
other things, the EEOC’s new enforcement guidance recognized that
exclusionary criminal records policies may have a disparate impact based on
race and national origin.
Unfortunately, there has been little guidance in the housing arena. Neither
HUD nor the courts have formally addressed fair housing concerns about the
use of criminal background checks by conventional housing communities.
While a few states limit the use of criminal records in housing and
employment decisions, only a handful of local governments have added fair
housing protections for individuals with criminal records.
Nevertheless, it may be a good time to review your community’s policies
and practices when it comes to the use of criminal background checks
while screening potential residents. Courts often look to employment
discrimination law in deciding fair housing cases, so the EEOC’s action may
be a sign of things to come.

The June lesson, “The Dos & Don’ts of Conducting Criminal Background
Checks,” available on our homepage, reviews the use of criminal background
checks in conventional housing communities and offers six Dos & Don’ts to
avoid potential fair housing problems—now and in the foreseeable future.
HUD: Veterans Deserve to Live
Free from Housing Discrimination
To mark Veteran’s Day, HUD’s theme this year is “Honoring Our Women
Veterans,” according to a posting on HUD’s blog, The HUDdle. Recalling his
service on the frontlines during the Vietnam War, Robert Walker, Director
of Education and Outreach, Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity,
wrote, “I know that if it were not for the women who served in vital medical
roles during that war, I probably would not be alive today.”
Under the Fair Housing Act, it’s illegal to deny housing or discriminate
against someone based on his or her disability, gender, race, color, national
origin, familial status, or religion. Although federal fair housing law does not
prohibit discrimination solely based on a veteran’s status, Walker observed
that some veterans face discrimination because of a disability.

Last month, for example, HUD charged a Utah homeowner association,
property management company, and a group of condominium owners
with violating the Fair Housing Act for refusing to accommodate a Gulf
War veteran who allegedly required an emotional support dog because
of a disability. Last year, HUD filed a similar charge against landlords in
Poughkeepsie, N.Y., on behalf of a Vietnam-era veteran. HUD claimed
the landlords refused to allow the veteran, who was suffering from
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, to have a therapeutic service dog in his
apartment. HUD also charged a Miami housing provider with discrimination
for refusing to make one of its units accessible for a veteran who uses a
wheelchair.
“Housing discrimination against a veteran with a disability or any protected
class is wrong and against the law. Our veterans deserve our thanks, respect,
and the opportunity to live where they choose free from discrimination. To
all veterans, women and men, I am privileged to be one of you and “Thank
YOU” for your selfless service,” Walker said.
Source: HUD
Fair Housing FAQs: Answers to
Common Compliance Questions
In honor of Fair Housing Month, the April 2012 Fair Housing Coach tackles
some of the frequently asked questions (FAQs) about fair housing law in
conventional multifamily housing communities. Here are seven of the 17
FAQs from the April issue, available on our homepage:
Who is protected under federal fair housing law? The federal Fair Housing
Act (FHA) prohibits discrimination in housing because of race, color, religion,
sex, national origin, familial status, or disability.
Are there any additional protected classes? Yes, depending on where a
community is located. Many state or and local governments have expanded
fair housing protections to marital status, sexual orientation, gender
identity, source of income, age, ancestry, military status, and
other characteristics.

Can someone who isn’t a member of a protected class file a fair housing
complaint? Yes, anyone injured by a violation of fair housing law may file
a claim. The law recognizes claims by prospects, applicants, and residents
who suffer discrimination because they are members of a protected class—
or because their household members, relatives, friends, or guests are
members of a protected class.
Who may be held liable for fair housing violations? Community owners,
property managers, individual employees, and outside contractors—along
with real estate professionals and others—may be held liable for housing
discrimination under federal fair housing law.
What conduct is banned under fair housing law? Among other things, fair
housing law bans certain rental practices if based on race, color, religion,
national origin, sex, disability, and familial status, including:
• Refusing to rent or negotiate for housing.
• Setting different terms, conditions, or privileges for the rental
of housing, such as different lease provisions related to rental
charges, security deposits, and other lease terms.
• Threatening, coercing, intimidating, or interfering with anyone
exercising a fair housing right or assisting others who exercise that
right.
How does fair housing law apply to advertising? Under the FHA, it’s
unlawful to make, print, or publish any notice, statement, or advertisement
related to the rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation,
or discrimination based on a protected characteristic.
How can communities minimize problems when dealing with troublesome
tenants? Little can be done to prevent frivolous complaints, but
communities have the means to expose the truth—and to protect themselves
from liability under fair housing law. The key is to document the nature
of the resident’s misdeeds—including records of late or missing payments,
complaints from neighbors, and ensuing investigations—and good faith
efforts to resolve the problem short of eviction.
For the rest of the 17 FAQs, along with a Quiz based on them, see “Fair
Housing FAQs: Answering Your Questions About Fair Housing Compliance,” on
our homepage.

5 Things You Can Do Right Now
to Avoid Fair Housing Trouble
This month, the Coach zeroes in on the 10 things you can do right now to
avoid fair housing trouble. Often, we’re focused on the big picture—and
things that take time to put into practice. But for this lesson, we’re focusing
on small, immediate steps that you could take right away to cut your risks of
a fair housing complaint.
For help, we turned to our fair housing experts. Collectively, they’ve seen
and done it all when it comes to fair housing. They know the law—inside
and out—and have run countless training sessions, helping communities like
yours on how to deal with problems—big and small—that often trigger fair
housing complaints. Based on their experiences, the experts weighed in with
suggestions about the most important things that community owners and
managers can do to ward off fair housing trouble.
In this lesson, we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 things you can do right
away to help ward off fair housing problems at your community. The list
includes general strategies to avoid the mistakes and misunderstandings that
often lead to complaints, along with tips on dealing with high-risk areas of
concern, most notably assistance animals and criminal background checks.
For some, the experts stressed the urgency of taking immediate action;
otherwise, it’s up to you to decide which ones sound most appropriate for
your community—and when you choose to do them.
TOP 5 THINGS YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW TO
AVOID FAIR HOUSING TROUBLE
1. Know the Law
To avoid fair housing trouble, the first thing you should do is to know all of
the laws applicable to your community, says F. Willis Caruso, former head of
John Marshall Law School’s fair housing program.

First off, there’s federal law—the Fair Housing Act (FHA), which prohibits
discrimination in housing on the basis of race, color, religion, national
origin, sex, familial status, and disability. The FHA applies nationwide to
virtually all rental housing communities.
In addition, many states and localities have fair housing laws in addition
to the federal law—you should know them as well, says fair housing expert
A.J. Johnson. Often, these state and local laws have extended fair housing
protections to cover marital status, sexual orientation, and source of
income, to name a few. The tricky thing is that state and local laws vary—
not only between states, but also among the different counties, parishes,
cities, towns, and other local areas.
It’s your job to know all the laws that may apply to your community. As
Caruso puts it, you should be prepared, which means:
• Knowing the Fair Housing Act and the federal regulations;
• Knowing the state fair housing law; and
• Knowing all the local laws. (In his home base, Chicago, for
example, that means the Cook County ordinance and the Chicago
ordinance.)
The second thing on Caruso’s list: Learn to live with HUD—and to know
what HUD expects. At his training sessions, Caruso emphasizes that HUD
and the local state agencies are players, and good managers should be
sure to know what HUD and others expect of them. The point he likes to
make is this: Looking at the HUD website and reviewing HUD directives
and interpretations as well as the regulations may not tell you everything
that you need to know. He recommends that people get familiar with their
local HUD office—where it is and who works there—and to do the same on
the state (and local) level. That way, when you get involved in a sticky fair
housing situation, you’ll be able to know what HUD expects and can try to
find a way to work it out to avoid conflict with HUD’s position.

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2. Give New Employees Fair Housing Training ASAP
Nearly all of our experts stressed the importance of training to ward off fair
housing problems. At the top of the list: Make sure that new hires get at
least some basic fair housing training before allowing them to answer the
phone or interact with the public.
As fair housing expert Anne Sadovsky puts it, “No one gets to sit at the front
desk without fair housing training.” Why? Because it’s risky to let someone
who’s new on the job answer the phone, since he may not be familiar with
fair housing requirements or have had a chance to learn the specifics of
your community’s policies. It’s bad enough if he makes an offhand remark or
gives the wrong answer to a question from a prospect, but it’s even worse
if the caller turns out to be a fair housing tester. Nationwide, fair housing
testers posing undercover as would-be prospects are calling—and emailing—
to check for differences in the way you treat people based on race, family
status, disability, or other characteristics protected under federal, state,
or local law. Even experienced staff can sometimes get tripped up by their
questions, but the risk increases dramatically if you put a new employee,
who may have little experience in the field, in a position to make you
vulnerable to further investigation—or perhaps, a fair housing complaint.
It’s not just the front desk you need to worry about. All new employees, no
matter what their job, should be trained before they’re allowed to interact
with the public. If you’re hiring a bunch of new people, Caruso says you
should arrange for classes as soon as possible after they come on board. If
it’s only one or two, then you could arrange for online training—or have the
supervisor review materials from the last fair housing training to tide them
over until the next regular training session.
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3. Give All Employees Routine Fair Housing Training
When was the last time you provided your all employees with fair housing
training? If you don’t remember—or it’s been more than a year since the last
training session—then getting it on the calendar ASAP is something that you
can do right now to stave off fair housing trouble down the road.
Fair housing expert Doug Chasick says that every employee who has any
contact with the public (prospects and residents) should not only complete
fair housing training, but also understand the basic principles of practicing
fair housing. It’s obvious why you’d want your leasing staff to get fair
housing training, but it’s also important to include maintenance workers,
service techs, porters, and others, says Sadovsky.
It’s also important for upper management (and owners) to participate
in the training, fair housing expert Nadeen Green added, since front-
line employees may not have the authority to make the changes that are
sometimes needed to comply with current fair housing requirements.
You should have fair housing updates at least once a year, says Caruso. A
good update reminds employees about what they learned the last time
(touching on the main points), and then explains any changes in the
law since then. The update should also include any developments—in
the courts or by enforcement agencies—particularly if they dealt with
problems discussed during the last session. The trainer should explain what
happened—and how what they learn in training will help your employees
avoid making a similar mistake. Caruso recommends getting an outsider
to conduct the training, as opposed to staff or management, who may be
tempted to soft-pedal the answers to hard questions.
Coach’s Tip: One key thing to cover during the training: claims based
on unintentional discrimination—also known as disparate impact
claims. Fair housing attorney Robin Hein says that it’s important
to explain to staff that unintentional discrimination means when a
policy applies to everyone but has a harder consequence or impact on
minorities (adverse or disparate impact), says Hein. It’s a relatively
new concept and difficult for management staff to understand
because their companies traditionally have trained them not to “make
exceptions” and treat everyone the same. The staff assume that if
they treat everyone the same on every policy, there won’t be a fair
housing complaint or discrimination.

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4. Take Training to the Next Level
Just “checking the box” that fair housing training was completed isn’t good
enough, says Chasick. Don’t just “send” people to fair housing training; take
it to the next level, he says, by taking steps both before and after training
to make sure that employees can put what they learned into practice. He
offers some tips:
• Before the training, supervisors should prepare their direct reports in a
pre-training meeting by setting expectations about what they will learn
and how their behavior will change as a result of attending the training.
• Follow up afterward by having a post-training review of what was learned
and what changes will be made as a result of attending the training.
The supervisor needs to monitor performance to ensure the agreed-upon
changes are made.
• Continue to follow up, by having a monthly team meeting to review fair
housing, including anything that has happened since the last meeting,
updates on anything new from HUD, the Justice Department, or state or
local fair housing agencies. Review any new policies or directives from
corporate. You could have a theme for each monthly meeting, such as
parking, animals, or use of amenities—and have a different employee
lead each meeting. And, he says, include office and maintenance staff.
5. Root Out Discriminatory Statements
Review all written material on a regular basis for potentially discriminatory
statements, says Johnson. Train employees regarding what to say—both in
person and on the phone, and ensure that email responses to inquiries are
consistent and non-discriminatory, says Johnson.
Have a zero-tolerance policy toward casual remarks, jokes, and wise cracks,
Chasick says. Pay attention to the words you use. For example, there is no
such thing as a “service pet,” he says. Along the same lines, Green says
that employees should understand how to handle transgender situations,
particularly in the pronouns used—for example, when “he” is applying for a
unit, but “his” name or ID belongs to “her.”
Chasick also emphasizes the importance of interpersonal skills. Smile, be
polite, and be respectful. The correct response to “Thank you” is “You’re
welcome.” Stop multitasking and direct 100 percent of your attention to
the human in front of you or on the other end of the phone. Stand when
another human enters the room. This is not political correctness, he says,
it’s common courtesy. Or, he asks: Do you think there is a huge distance
between the perception of disrespect and the perception of discrimination?

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