Fair Housing

This month MHCO focuses on fulfilling your obligation to comply with fair housing rules banning discrimination based on race and color with a six part series – with six rules community owners and managers need to follow.

The owners and operators of an Illinois mobile home community recently agreed to pay $251,500 to settle a lawsuit alleging race discrimination, according to the Justice Department. The complaint alleged that the former manager imposed more burdensome application requirements to discourage African-American prospects from living there.

This month at Manufactured Housing Communities of Oregon (MHCO), we look at how to avoid fair housing trouble while dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. For months now, the nation has been confronting the public health emergency caused by the new coronavirus. By April, all 50 states had reported cases of COVID-19 to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), though different parts of the country experienced different levels of COVID-19 activity. According to the CDC, U.S. COVID-19 cases include:

• People who were infected while traveling, before returning to the United States;
• People who were infected after having close contact with someone known to be infected with the virus; and
• People who were infected but don’t know how or where they were infected.

Last week we uploaded “10 rules on how to avoid fair housing claims based on familial status”.   This week, let’s look at how the rules might apply in the real world. Here are  4 questions - with answers posted on MHCO.ORG.  

INSTRUCTIONS: Each of the following questions has only one correct answer. 

Complaints can arise from the way you advertise, show units, apply occupancy standards, and enforce community rules.

This week MHCO looks at fair housing problems that can arise when dealing with families with children. Fair housing law bans discrimination against families with children, but there’s more to it than that. You could get into fair housing trouble from the way that you advertise your property, show units, apply occupancy standards, and enforce community rules.

To kick off the New Year, MHCO reviews recent developments—court rulings, settlements, and enforcement actions—in fair housing law. Staying on top of current developments may help you to avoid common problems that so often lead to fair housing trouble.

In this lesson, we focus on avoiding discrimination claims based on religion during the holidays—and all throughout the year.

You don’t have to be a “Grinch” to comply with fair housing law. The key is to celebrate the general festivity of the season without promoting a particular religion or particular religious holiday. That way, you’ll satisfy fair housing concerns by showing that your community welcomes everyone—regardless of anyone’s religious practices or beliefs.

HUD recently announced that it’s charging a couple who owns an apartment building in Georgia with violating fair housing law by refusing to rent to, imposing different rental terms and conditions on, and making discriminatory statements about families with children.

Question.  We have just begun managing a 55+ community. However, we are confused about the 80/20 rules and the possibility of losing our 55+ status. What is a safe margin for occupancy limits?  And if our community percentage is 85%, are we required to rent the 15% remainder to families with children?