Dissecting disparate impact: Ensuring compliance in an ever changing world! with Doug Chasick, CPM®, CAPS, CAS, Adv. RAM, CLP, SLE, CDEI President, The Fair Housing Institute, Inc.

The current state of fair housing affairs

Implicit Bias

Down to cases

Disparate impact

Disparate Impact is a legal doctrine which states that a policy may be considered discriminatory if it has a disproportionate “adverse impact” against any group based on race, national origin, color, religion, sex, familial status, or disability when there is no legitimate, non-discriminatory business need for the policy.

HUD’s Three Step Approach to Proving Disparate Impact The tenant or applicant must show that on its face, the ‘action in question’ has either a disparate impact or a segregative effect on a protected class. If the discriminatory impact is shown … • The burden shifts to the housing provider/property manager to show a “legally sufficient justification” (Means “substantial, legitimate, nondiscriminatory” purpose.) If the landlord satisfies this burden… • The tenant or applicant may still establish liability by proving that the legitimate justification could be achieved by another practice that has a less discriminatory effect.

Criminal Background Source of Income Victim of Domestic Violence

Criminal background

Source of income

Published in: J. Rosie Tighe; Megan E Published in: J. Rosie Tighe; Megan E. Hatch; Joseph Mead; Journal of Planning Literature  32, 3-15. DOI: 10.1177/0885412216670603 Copyright © 2016 SAGE Publications

Use your qualifying standards If you don’t accept vouchers, why not? If you don’t accept vouchers, be helpful in referring prospects to communities that do.

Domestic Violence

Occupancy standards

Occupancy

“In the filed complaint, XYZ Residential is alleged to have a stated occupancy standard of no more than two people per bedroom in each apartment or townhome, regardless of the unit’s square footage or whether that unit has a den, office, or other feature that could provide an additional bedroom or living area for a child. XYZ enforces this policy without regard to local health and property maintenance codes that state the square footage required for each occupant. In each of the 20 properties named in the complaint, XYZ was found to have denied housing to families with children despite the apartments having ample square footage for the family size to be allowed by local codes. Not only were the families prohibited from living in a particular unit, many were denied from the complex all together due to their family size.”

Lgbt – gender identity

Lep & national origin

Management Company Settles Claim of Discrimination Against Non-English Speakers

HUD recently announced that it has charged the owner and manager of a Minnesota property with housing discrimination based on national origin for refusing to rent a home to an Asian family of Hmong descent. The case began when a family—a mother, her adult son, and two minor children—filed a complaint with HUD after trying to rent a three-bedroom townhouse in March 2014. After visiting the home and paying an $80 application fee, they said the landlord expressed concerns about the mother’s English language skills. In an email to the adult son, the landlord allegedly wrote: “During your visit to the address, you prompted your mom to say something to me. She appears to know some simple phrases, but understanding lease legal terms is very unlikely.” Though they met all the requirements for rental, the family said that the landlord wanted them to pay $500 to have the lease translated and then denied their application, stating: “I regret that the rental application has been denied. Both adults would have to sign the contract. [Your mother] appears to have limited English skills. … [T]he contract must be translated to her native language. If not, she could easily break the lease. Such translations are very costly.” When the son challenged the denial as unlawful discrimination, the landlord allegedly threatened to report the son, who holds a real estate license, to the Minnesota department that governs real-estate licensing. Following an investigation, HUD charged the landlord with refusing to rent to the family, attempting to charge them to have the lease translated, making discriminatory statements based on their national origin, and retaliating against them for exercising their fair housing rights. The charge will be heard by a HUD administrative law judge unless either party elects to take the case to federal court.

http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/documents/huddoc?id=lepmemo 091516.pdf

Allow applicants to bring a translator Reading, writing, speaking and/or understanding English is not mandatory No favoring one LEP over another Do not refuse services

To Do

Review all policies – are they defensible? Find a fair housing attorney Monitor fair housing – Google Alerts Just say “KNOW” Train, Train, Train

Doug Chasick, CPM®, CAPS, CAS, Adv. RAM, CLP, SLE, CDEI Dissecting disparate impact: ensuring compliance in an ever changing world! Doug Chasick, CPM®, CAPS, CAS, Adv. RAM, CLP, SLE, CDEI doug.chasick@fairhousinginstitute.com www.fairhousinginstitute.com